&:
cinta thie tlie
53
P ie
344
un
reeves : 3 4
Hilnhiestee
z ES.
i
“as
| Morrison, Willmot
Die on Gallows'
(Continued Prom Page One)
| Ing motor car, Youell waved tt to the
side of the road and discovered the
| boty of Prank Bowen in the front
seat, partly covered with an overcoat,
dead from a bullet wound thfough the
head. In the machine were Morrfeon,;
Willmot, and the latter's 14-year-old
| bride, Violet Willmot. -
| ". | Came to Grief
. honeymoon, for Willmot and hib
| bride, with Morrison | sccorfipahying
| thes tame 06 grief on the Lens creek
mountain when theif automoSile be~-
came disabie@, They waved to « pass-
ing motorist. “Bowen, the propriétor of
A mountain top filling station on his
way to Charleston, stopped his éar and’
consented to take, them to « filling|
station fer gasoline. What happened }
on the way, to the filling station was
matter of conflictiz.g teatimony at
the following trials.. Morrison and
Willmot blamed each other for
Bowen but both agreed that Willmot's
wife remained In the disabled car and
did not witness the killing.
The case moved quikly after the
traffic officer escorted the death car
with the New Jersey trio to the police
station A special grand jury was sum-
moned the next day to meet on May
113 to consider Indictments § against
Morrison and Willmot.. Rhey = were
ach indicted for murder upon that
day, counsel appointed to defend them
and thetr trial eet for Ms> 28. Be-
reached until May 31, when Morrtson
wag afraigned. He was convicted of
first degree murder June 3 after the
jury bed deliberated but nine min-
utes. Wilithot immedtfately was placed
om trial and likewise wae convicted
three days later, the jury in that trial
deliberating. 51, minut@s, Each was
sentenced to be executed at the state
penitentiary, #riday, September 13.
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36 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
wound was about one inch and one-fourth; we allowed it was
about one inch at the base; the wound on the integument was
longer than the skull; I mean by the integument the covering of
the skull; that wound was near the occiput suture; that wound
making that depressed fracture, inflicting that kind of a wound
pressing in that way would necessarily affect one of the main
tar Sg ac 8 > sae prin tions in the head, one of the main vessels carry-
ing the blood; it is what is called the posterior of the longitudinal
sinus; from that wound proceeded, in my estimation, the most of
the blood the woman lost, which was quite a quantity; where she
was lying, the grass and yard was covered and saturated; her
feet were laying on the porch and her head laying out on the
rocks; it was part of the step-way to the porch. That wound
was evidently inflicted with the same instrument as the wounds I
shall describe hereafter. Had she have fallen she could not have
hurt herself; if she had fallen back over the steps I don’t think
she would have received the wound; that wound alone would
have produced death in my estimation. (Counsel for defendant
objects to the witness speaking as an expert. Court directs the
Witness that from the examination he has made, that he can give
the consequence of the wound.)
Witness :—I will say positively that I know no one could
survive such a wound. Extravasation of blood at the base of the
brain is a wound of the most fatal occurrence in connection with
the wound on the head. The next wound, gentlemen of the jury,
that I shall proceed to describe was inflicted as near as J] can
locate it, upon the head as this line is drawn upon this skull; that
wound was four inches long, evidently inflicted with a fairly
sharp instrument. Upon probing it, I had a very light probe,
much lighter than this, I just let it drop down this way two
inches and a half, showing that cerubum substance had been
divided, these edges did not give so far in as the middle of the
fracture, the suture gave away where these bones are reunited,
that the doctors call suture, this edge become depressed under the
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 37
frontal bone; that, without doubt, would have caused death to
the person. It affected the sensory and motor nerves to the
extent of producing immediate paralysis. Here was another wound
one and one-half inch long; this wound or cut would be in a very
fatal position too, you know; it is in the vicinity of the. tempor
region, and so, gentlemen of the jury, you see how most of these
licks were made. ‘The probabilities are that the corner of the
_ hatchet penetrated down here; this superior orbital blood pos-
sibly through to the coalroid, and to that wound would be
attributed the discoloration or darkening of the face. I would
not say that this wound would necessarily prove fatal. In
examining these wounds, after making the desired examination
in regard to this wound, and arriving at sufficient evidence to
convince us, there were two wounds, the nature of which would
be fatal, we thought it unnecessary to make any further disfigure-
ment of the subject, so that they might be presentable to their
friends —for in order to make a thorough investigation, it is a
great disfigurement, of the countenance. You see this puncture
of the skull; there was evidently a corner of some sharp instru-
ment which went right down here; the bone. was separated
undoubtedly there; from this wound here I believe exuded as
much as two ounces of brains; I removed two ounces of brains
that had exuded and lay on the floor, and the rest of the brains
that lay on the floor, I put back in and sewed it up. I did not
see her until after she was dead and carried into the house; that
was where this exudation of the brain was, after she was taken
in the house. It would not have been possible for these wounds
to have been made by a blunt instrument, as cleanly cut as those
wounds were, and as the scalp seemed to be, the instrument could
not have been very dull; it could have been dull if it had been
struck with great force; it could not have been a blunt instru-
ment. ‘wo of these wounds would have been necessarily fatal;
I am positive about that wound. ‘The other wound, with the
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
Also directs the Prosecuting Attorney to have w
the State called, which he does.
Pfost not answering,
and att
itnesses for
Dr. Bechtel and Miss Alice
the Court instructs the Sheriff to take a rule
achment for Dr. Bechtel, and also to take with him Dr.
O. J. Casto, to ascertain if the Miss Alice Pfost is able to be
brought to Court. To which Mr. Shinn, Sheriff, replies that “I
am informed by Mr. Casto’s son that Dr. Bechtel, with Miss
Pfost, is coming near-‘town.” Court says “ You had better get
your cab and go and meet them.” To which remark the Sheriff
replies, “It is reliable information.”
Sheriff will go to meet them and take
a cab, the most easy one
that can be found.
“for Miss Alice Pfost, and take Dr. Casto with
him to ascertain her condition ; if they should meet Dr. Bechtel
on the road without Miss Pfost, that he is to return to where she
is to help report her condition.
And further Says to the Sheriff. °
when the lady w
itness does come, you need not bring her into
the court room, but leave her with some of her friends
convenient proximity. Sheriff asks, “Did the Court s
Dr. Casto?” Ans,
in some
ay to take
“Yes, or any other reputable physician con-
venient ; you may go and get ready, Mr. Sheriff, the Court will
send the rule to wherever your team is, The Sheriff calls for O.
J. Casto, M. D.; he is not to be found within
the court room,
and some one says th
at he is in his office across the street; and
the Court says, “If you don’t find him,
other reputable physician.” DO. Te
front door of the court-house.
Mr. Sheriff, take some
asto is called from the
The Clerk gives the rule and at-
tachment to Henry Mahan to deliver to the Sheriff.
At this
point a letter is handed to the Court for one of the
juryimen (
Mr. Franklin), the Court hands him letter to see if he
recognizes handwriting, which he Says he does, as it is from
home, and that the Court may open and read it. This is done
and the Court reports that it contains name of a
before the Grand Jury and some instructions as to
purchases of dry goods.
witness to go
making some
The Court orders that the
33
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
Dr. Bechtel appears ina short time, all the witnesses a
t or in close proximity; everything seems to be in se
ee the presence of thé Prosecuting Attorney, and aia
is in shall be called for at the front door o e
Se cls cull of the prisoner is carried out by oes
and Mrs. Hunt (nee Bradley) who says see has oo eae:
long time. ‘The court-house at this time is crowded to i
ing 1 t to suffo-
-extent, with spectators crowding into the bar and almos
i i ; d the —
cation, Mr. Seaman not appearing. It is 11 o’clock an i :
7 : jai ny
Court ordered that the prisoner be remanded to jail before . y S
djourned unti
; ces that court will be adj
the crowd leaves; announ ee
12:45 p.m. Directs that the crowd at the front part ot the ae
h a shall pass out and so on, until the court-house is cleared.
Q SS Ol
: Jest VIRGINIA, )
STATE OF = : For Murder.
JOHN MORGAN. ; a
Court convenes at 1 o’clock p.m. on Friday. The = ees
for the State and defendant announce that they are re y .
a Court directs that the Clerk should read the seo
the jury, which indictment is as follows:
INDICTMENT AGAINST JOHN F. MORGAN.
State OF WEST VIRGINIA, COUNTY OF LON) TO-WIT :
In the Circuit Court of said airtel =
The Grand Jurors of the State of West Me ae eae
the body of the County of Jackson, and ters gee a
court upon their oaths present, that John : a cg
f November, one thousand eight hundre an “ae
conn a county, wilfully, maliciously, Se ee
fully and feloniously did slay, kill and eon one |
Greene, against the peace a a ae ba a oe
i nation O ‘ge; © :
and io erate in open court and sent to the Grand
Jury to give evidence on this indictment.
J. A. SEAMAN,
Prosecuting Attorney.
30 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDy,
to which Mr. Brown replied “I do not.”
“ Gentlemen of the Jury,
of the original questions
The Court then said,
the Court will now inquire of you all
To which all answer with a nod.
2d Q.— Are you and each
of you residents of- Jackson
County?
To which question they all answer with nod,
3d O.— Are you or either of you related to by blood or mar-
riage to John Morgan?
To which Mr. J. B. Casto Says:
neighborhood, I might possibly be some
blood relation.
If he was born in our
relation to him but 0
4th O.—Have you any
the prisoner ?
4th A.—I would be
mother was a Rollins;
Knowledge of it, if you are related to
about third cousin to his mother, if his
I would be his mother’s third cousin.
oth Q.—Propounded to the prisoner:
“Where were you
born ?”
oth A.—I was born up there some where about Gay; I was
small when my mother left me. The Court calls for private con-
sultation, Mr. Brown and Seanian.
6th Q.—Propounded to the defendant :
Court desires to inquire of you in person w
should be so that Mr. Casto, a member of the jury, will sit on
your Case, is a relative of yours, whether or not it is an objection
on your part to him Serving as such juror?
6th A.—No, sir, I have no objection,
7th Q.—Mr. Casto, you will be retained.
Mr. Morgan, the
hether or not, if it
If you are a rela-
? 31
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
i if i Id be that
tive the Court has no knowledge of it, and if it ne a a
i u
i 7 lative of the prisoner, wo
u believe that you are a rela : ae
. judgment either as to his guilt or innocence 1n passing upon
your j :
this alleged offense?
7th A.—Not at all, sir. | ee
8th Q.—Are either of the others related to John Morgan by
iage?
lood or marriage! . ee
: 9th Q.—Are either of you related by blood or pee i
vit | st be
rriage with Chloe E. Greene, known as Chloe E. -
ma :
her marriage to Greene, and after as Chloe KE. Green Ss
x
10th Q.—Have you or either of you made up or . p ne
si i _prisone
pinion regarding the guilt or innocence of the pr
an oO
the charge of murdering Chloe E. Greene?
10th A.—No, sir. es
lith Q.—Are you or either of you sensible of any
; ; : Le) . >?
prejudice for or against the prisoner? .
1th A.—No sir. oo oe
“4 h Q.—Have you or either of you any conscientious -
5 ag i ’ the law
les against inflicting the death penalty if warranted by ;
ples
+ >
nd the evidence: , ae
2 13th Q.—Gentlemen, do either of you know of any
i i se?
; jurors in this case! eer
a a Q.—Since your impannelling on yesterday have
25
ot you talked about this matter among See tis ieee
| y pe talked about it or in y
15th Q.—Has any person
. i rou
Z Se h Q.—Have you been kept constantly together since y
t — ,
7 impannelled ? Veg
2 Mac ee to the defendant: The Court will as
Pp Pp
u
ilty’”’ in this case? ;
Fra. A.—Yes, sir. ‘The Court directs the Clerk to enter
plea of “not guilty” in this case.
sworn, Says:
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY
The State re
quests that the stenogr
directs the Clerk to Sesrite e Naee +A gtapher be sworn.
pher for the case.
sworn by Court.
Court
i ea nnie H. McVay as stenogra-
se j ng engaged, stenogra
oe 1e coun instructs the jury that the
ts a plea of not guilty to the indictment, and it d
upon the State to prove each and ever
ment.
pher is
defend-
| evolves
y allegation in the indict-
Piece
s of door chopped down by Morgan to reach
the age fe i
taal oe dee oe oe ged lady, and also implements
of his victims.
TESTIMONY OF DR. JOHN M. BECHTEL
Doct
octor J. M. Bechtel, first Witness for the State being duly
Ist Q.—Where do you live?
Ist A.—At Fair Plain.
2d O.—Ifa Physician, how long have
2d A.—About 36 years. fe ea
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 30
3d Q.—Were you acquainted with the deceased Mrs. Chloe
E. Greene in her life time?
3d A —Yes, I have known her for about 34 or 35 years.
4th QO.—What was her age?
4th A.—Well, she was over 60 years of age, I am satisfied
that she was over that; I have a memorandum of their ages that
was called from the bible, called to me from the record; I forgot
_ her exact age, I have a memoranda of it in my pocket.
dth Q.—State what was her physical condition, give her size?
5th A.—She was a fairly well-preserved woman for her age,
but she had deficiency in her sight; at one time she had been
nearly blind; I should judge the woman would weigh between
150 and 160 pounds; was five feet tall, for I measured her.
6th Q.—If you were present at the time of her death, or
while she was lingering, and until after her death, and made 2n
examination, tell the court and jury what you discovered; give a
history a¥ nearly as you can of what you discovered?
6th A. -I did not arrive at the scene of the tragedy until
she was murdered, until after she was dead; she had been dead a
short time: her body was yet warm; muscular rigidity had not
appeared. |
Tth Q.—What wounds, if any, did you find; give their loca-
tion and the character?
7th A.—By Your Honor’s permission, I will introduce a skulb
to more thoroughly delineate to the jury the way the wounds were
inflicted —
8th Q.—Propounded by the Court: “ Does the State desire
to introduce that skull?
Sth A.—By Prosecuting Atttorney Seaman: “Vee. Si
- Wth A.--Continued: If Your Honor please, I will present
this skull. This wound was located on the right-hand side of the
skull, was one and one-half inches long; there was a decided
depression of the skull, traversing in this direction, that part was
depressed inward upon the brain, you all see it, do you? This
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
19th Q.—During this time you were with him, was he doing
much talking? |
19th A.—He never spoke to me.
20th Q.—How far did you follow until he spoke the’ first
time, if he did speak?
20th A.—At the corn shock, he said he was going to feed
Henry Fisher’s hogs.
21st Q.—-How close was you to him then?
21st Q.—Some four or five steps.
22d Q.—Was this before he threw his gun at you or after-
wards ? .
22d A.—It was before. I had taken my baby to the house
of Mrs. Fisher, and she told me to follow ‘him and get the gun
away from him; he struck at me with the gun three times: it
was after this that he tore the fence down.
23d Q —How long was it until he left that place and went to
where he tore the fence down ?
23d A.—I don’t know the time; it was about forty steps or
more; it was partly level and partly up hill.
24th Q.—How far were you from ‘him when he tore the
fence down?
24th A.—-I was at Mrs. Fisher’s house, it was quite a little
distance. He made some kind of a noise, I don’t know how he’
made.
25th Q.--On the night at your brothers-in-law, after he got
out of the house, did he make any noise ?
25th A.—-Yes, sir, he screamed just wild and wicked; he
hallooed several times, then he started and commenced singing
or humming to himself low, thefi he next whistled.
26th QO.—Did he tell you on the evening of the 2d where he
Was going?
26th A.—He told me that he was going over to Doug.
Shinn’s on business; he told me he would be back by 9 o’clock;
he said he would not be gone over three hours, or about 9 o’clock.
‘THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 61
27th Q —Did you say anything to him that morning after
he returned home and before he left ?
27th A.—Yes, sir, I could not say how many times. I got
no response whatever from him.
Cross EXAMINATION.
2kth Q.-—-What time did he leave that evening?
28th A.—I don’t know just the time that he did leave, but I
don't think it was quite dusk, he just got up from his supper
and started; he had been husking corn that day, and eat his sup-
per at home. I did not notice which way he started when he
went out: I had my baby to feed and was not through my sup-
per vet. I wanted him to go on horseback as it was late, but he
said lhe could walk across the hill by Henry Winters’. Henry
Winters lives between where Mrs. Greene and us lived: when
he went to Henry Winters’ he was going in the direction of Mr-.
Greene's part of the way: then he would turn off to the right
and vo across a hill to Doug. Shinn’s.
29th QO.--That would have been before he vot to Henry
Winters’, would it net?
20th A.--YVes, sir.
50th ©O.--Did he inform you on what business he was going
to Shinn’s on?
30th A.--No, sir, he did not mention any business he was
going to see Mr. Shinn about.
31st ().—By the way of refreshing your recollection, did he
say anything about going to borrow some money of Shinn?
31st A.--I don’t remember that he did.
32d Q.--During these times you speak about his abseut-
mindedness, was he frquently away from home?
' 32d A.-Sometimes he was away from home, I don't know
that he was ever absent only when he was on business, or attend-
ing to business; he attended to whatever business he had and
returned.
33d Q.—Was he frequently away at night?
2 en eR Nn det mtd RBI BH oct
shh
ar it yi
gin ip
ot. ~ Lneebe laminin Hy SA a
54 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
her, and as I looked around, he tried to murder me, and he run
after my sister and struck her again, and I had strength enough
to get up and run to Mr. Chancey’s for help.
10th Q.—Where was your mother?
10th A.—She was back ‘n the bed-room when I left, making
up her bed. .
11th Q.~ -He had not reached her then ?
11th A.—No, sir, but I looked back and saw him going to
the bed-room door to where she was.
12th Q.—Could you see whether he had anything in his
hands when he come in there?
12th A.—I could not say, it was just after I was struck.
18th Q.—What did he have in his hands in the kitchen
when he struck your sister and you?
13th A.—I did not see that he had anything in his hands, I
just thought that he struck her with his hand.
lth O.—Did you say he did not strike her but once witil
he hit you?
I4th A.—He was standing at my back and rushed to my
side when he struck my sfster, then I turned my head and
screamed and started to run, then he struck- me.
15th Q.—Did you say you went to John Chancey’s?
loth A.—Yes, sir.
16th Q.—And informed him of what had happened ?
16th A.—Yes, sir.
17th Q.—A few minutes before you went for Mr. Chancey,
your mother was at home and in the room alive and well, in this
County ?
17th A.—Yes, sir.
18th Q.—After you left the house and before you reached
Mr. Chancey’s, did you hear your mother’s voice in any outcry ?
18th A.—Yes, sir, I heard them both screaming, my sister
called for me, and says: “Alice do come back, and try to get
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. oo
the gun and help us.” I knew where the gun was and that I could
not reach her, and I did not go back.
19th Q—Had there been any trouble between your mother
and him, or your folks and him that morning?
19th A.—No, sir, he never spoke a cross word to any of us,
nor said a word when he was trying to kill us.
20th Q.—Had there been any trouble or cross words on the
evening before?
20th A.—No, sir.
21st Q.—How did he come to stay at your house that night:
he lives a short distance from there, does he not?
21st A.—-He lives hardly two miles; he came down there in
the evening and asked mother for a coat pattern for a child-of
Mrs. Parsons: she told him she had none, and he sat around and
talked and then he finally asked my sister if she would shingle
his hair that night, and she told him no, sir, she would not. ard
then he asked her if he staid all night would she cut it in the
~ morning, she told him she reckoned she could, and he talked on
friendly and finally went to sleep in the same room with my
brother. '
22d Q.--Have you been to your home: since this occurred ?
22d A-——WNo. sir: :
23d Q.—When you started out of the house that morning
Was there any person there but Morgan, your sister and Mother?
23d A. —No, sir, no one at all.
24th Q.—What did you hear before you got,to the house of
John Chancey:; any noise of any kind in the house?
24th A.—-Nothing but the screams of my mother and sister.
25th Q.--Did any one else stay there that night except
Morgan and your family ?
25th A.—NOo, sir.
20th Q.—Did you see any one else except Morgan and your
fainily after you got up that morning?
26th A.—-No, sir, I did not see any one else.
State here rests its case.
tie
w
Saleh re OR
a
&.
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
WITNESSES FOR DEFENDANT.
TESTIMONY OF MRS. JOHN F. MORGAN.
At the same time and place, witnesses for the defendant being
called and duly sworn, Mrs. John Morgan being called first, says:
Ist Q.—What is your name?
Ist A.—Rebecca C. Morgan.
2d Q.— Where do you live?
2d A.—YThat is no fair question; I am so tore up I don't
know where I live: lived on Grass Lick.
3d Q.—-Are you the wife of John Morgan?
3d A.— Ves, sir: Iam.
4th O.—How long have you been married ?
4th A.—Two years the 27th of last February.
oth Q.—Were vou at home on the night of the morning of
November 6d, this year? :
5th A.—Yes, sir: I was at home. :
6th O.—Was vour husband at home that night ?
'th A.—No; he was not at home.
ith Q.—If he returned next moruing, state at what time?
(th A.—He came just about the break of day.
Sth Q.—Had you got up then ?
Sth A.—Yes; I was up when he came.
%th Q.—Tell the Court what he did after he came home?
‘th A.—Well; he came home and wandered around through
the house and never noticed me nor the baby, walked in the
room where his gun was, took his gun down and went out of the
house; started up the road towards Mr. Fisher’s, I followed him
and called him and still he made no answer, I still followed him
on up there and called for some of the men folks to assist me to
do something with him, for there was something wrong. I did
oe
wl 2 ie ue 4 cs % i ol
Ag he : a3 Rg
Pe
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. o7
not know what it was, there was none of them there; by that
time he came to the corn shock, out in the garden, he throwed his
gin down on the ground, began tearing the corn shock to pieces,
jerked some corn off and started with it in his hand and said Mr.
Fisher had told him fo feed his hogs that morning, that he was
going to do it; I took my baby to the house and gave it to Mrs.
Fisher to keep it from getting cold; she told me to try to get his
gun away from him. I went to him and asked for the gun, and
he struck at me three times with the gun, and then I give back
and he throwed the gun, I don’t know if he intended to hit me
with it or not, but it fell and lay right at my feet; from that he
“ent on with the corn he had in his hand, towards Mr. Fisher's
hog-pen up the road; I don’t know whether he went to the hog-
pen or not, but he went off up through the field against the hill
where there was a plank fence across the field; he went to that
fence and began tearing off the plank, and throwed them on the
ground; he left there and went across to another fence, went a
few steps to the fence and turned and came back down to Mr.
Fisher's; I do not know what he done then after that.
10th O.—Had you before that observed anything peculiar
about his disposition; please relate it to the Court and jury?
10th A.—Well, I suppose all the people remembers the re-
union on Bare Fork, he and I went to that, we went up to his
brother-in-law’s to stay all night, and in the night he wakened me,
when the baby commenced to fuss and I commenced to try to do
something, he commenced to try to get up in his sleep and I com-
menced to try to waken him; I called to his sister and she tried
to waken him up, and we could not get him awake and he finally
jumped up and run out of doors, running up against a hillside
and acted very strange; his brother-in-law went out to bring him
back ; he could not get him back, and by that time I went to
him the fourth time; I don’t just remember how many times he:
pushed me away from him; we took hold of him and shook him,
talked to him, he did not push me away from him no more, when
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o8 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
we started back to the house we thought we had got him awake
until we were Standing by the fire talking, we thought he was
awake when, all at once he whirled around and went and got in
bed, and never said nothing more to us, I knew then he was still
wrong some way. I supposed he was still asleep, I called to him
and worked with him until I got him awakened up and he said
he did not know anything about what. he had done, that he had
been dreaming of running a foot race with a man J don't suppose
ever lived: Ithink he said the man’s name was Lathey, that is
all I know; that was on the night of the last day of the reunion
of Bare Fork, this fall.
llth Q—Was it the last night of September or October?
lth A.—} really can't say; Iam so mixed up.
12th Q.—Before the 3d of November, and.since the reunion.
have you noticed anything peculiar about jim either in the night-
time or day? .
12th A.— He had strange flighty spells in his sleep from then
on, he had had them before: that was not the first time he got up
in his sleep, he had strange spells in the day time, that he would
seem unconcerned about everything about home, then sometinies
he would appear as lively and natural as he ever did.
13th Q.—Was there any time, except at your brother-in-law’s.
that he got up and went out at night?
13th A.—Yes, sir: he got up and went out at home twice,
and he went out one night when he went to set up with a sick
child of Mr. Wash. Garnes. He said, when he lay down, it was
about 1] o'clock, if we needed him, he could be called; that he
wanted to get some rest, he was working in the harvest field and
needed some rest; little after 11 o'clock he got up and called his
-horse; he got out of bed and spoke to it, just as if he had
caught him. He got up, too, and went out in the yard there
at Mr. Garnes’; he stumbled over something in the yard; it was
raining very hard too, and falling down and rain together,
awakened him and he came back into the house. He told me of
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. a9
another time that he was not at home. I don’t just remember
where I was; that he got up iti his sleep, got his gun and went
out on the porch and shot it off, and that the noise wakened him
up and went back in the house.
14th Q.—Was there any difference in his disposition when
he would be about the house after—within the last six months
has disposition changed ?
14th A—He has changed a great deal within the last six
months ~
15th Q.—How long since you observed this peculiarity about
him, if any? ;
loth A.—-I noticed something wrong with him this spring,
late in the spring ; along about the middle of the summer he just -
become unconcerned about home; by spells he seemed to be con
cerned about the place, and other times his mind was away on
something else; sometimes he would appear as. lively and jovial
as ever: other times he-was unconcerned, paid no attention much
to anything. I had mentionéd it at different times to some of —
my cieitor. and I wondered what was wrong, and I asked
some of them what they thought was wrong with him. They
told me they thought there must be something wrong, and that I
ought to have something done for him, I tried to get him to sec
a physician, but he would not do so. af have persuaded him at
different times to have something done.
16th Q.—I believe you stated that he returned home be-
fore daylight ?
16th A.—Yes, sir.
17th Q.—How long did he remain there?
17th A.—That is something I could not tell you, but only a
few minutes.
18th Q.—Did I understand you to say that he tore down a
shock of corn down in the field ?
18th A.—Yes, sir.
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84. THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
Morgan. ‘They rode together for about two miles but Parsons
did not recognize Morgan. When, within a few miles of Walton,
Morgan met J. W. Fisher a half brother to Mrs. Chloe Greene,
and Morgan’s nearest neighbor before the crimes were committed
and Wm. Chauncey, one of the first that was on the ground after
the crime was committed, but, not knowing of his escape, neither
of these recognized him. |
This is the narrative chiefly Morgan gives of his journey
and circumstances seems to bear him out in his statement. As
the first horse he took was tracked in the direction of his father-
in-law, and was also seen where Morgan says he first turned it
loose, and while his father-in-law would not admit him, being
there, he had secured some of his old clothes which he could have |
gotten no place else. It was also evident that he had been be-
hind the rocks, as he had described, and also’ at his brother-in-
law’s. A. W. Slaughter, who lives near Morgan’s brother-in-law,
and who was deputized by Sheriff Shinn, heard of Morgan being
in that vicinity. Early Saturday morning, December 4th, Mr.
Slaughter, with a posse of men, followed Morgan’s tracks at his
brother-in-law’s and pursued it over hills and hollows until after
noon, when he came to the place where Morgan had employed
Harper to take him to Walton and he (Slaughter) hurried on to
that point, his other men being unable to keep up with him,
reaching there twenty-five minutes behind Morgan. But, before.
he reached there, however, W. B. Parsons, who had fallen in with
Morgan and Harper near Walton, concluded that the man was
really John Morgan and swore out a warrant and he was arrested
by Constable Camp before Mr. Slaughter arrived. Mr. Slaughter
demanded the prisoner, but Constable Camp refused to turn him
over to his custody, and immediately started to the Spencer jail,
fifteen miles distant. Mr. Slaughter started back to notify Sheriff
Shinn, and, when about five miles from Walton, he met that
official | and Deputy R. P. Shinn, who had heard of Morgan’s
whereabouts and was in hot pursuit. They then started for
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. — 85
Spencer, the county seat of justice of Roane County, reaching
there about 10 p. M., the officers having arrived with Morgan
about an hour before and had him securely locked in jail. Sheriff
Shinn demanded the prisoner, but the authorities refused to de-
liver him over; then hot words ensued, and serious trouble
seemned imminent, but before any violence was resorted to,. the
authorities receded from their position and turned the prisoner
over to the custody of Mr. Shinn who secured a conveyance and
started for the Ripley jail, a distance of about thirty miles, reach-
ing there at 10 a. m., Sunday, December 5th—fifty-nine hours
after his escape. These were fifty-nine hours of wakefulness for
Sheriff Shinn and his deputies, not offering to take a minute's
sleep during the whole time.
Morgan returned in apparentiy as good spirits as he went
away, laughing and joking, telling how neatly he worked the
guards, and. relating several laughable incidents connected with
his escape.
Many wonder why Morgan did not make better time while
out. Everything seemed to be against him. The nights were
dark; a cold, sleety rain was falling almost the entire time he
was out; the water courses were all up; he knew nothing of the
lay of the country, only in the immediate neighborhood where he
lived. No doubt, leaving a warm cell thinly clad, that his suffer-
ing from cold and exposure would be immense, and his second
night’s ride bringing him back to where he started almost frozen
to death. No doubt he had given up all hopes of escape.
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
MORGAN’S CONFESSION.
On the second day of December, Morgan completed a confes-
sion, for which Okey J. Morrison agreed to pay to his wife, the
suin of twenty-five dollars. This consisted of a recital of the
brutal story, all the particulars of which had been previously
brought out in the trial, as exhibited in its record in this work.
In this confession he shows that his object in committing the
awful crime, was to obtain money, of which he represents him-
self as having been greatly in need. He also establishes the fact,
as had been shown in the evidence, that James Greene was his
first victim; and further admits, that on the night that he called
James Greene out to go and shoot the raccoons, he had planned
to commit the crime that night.
Still further, he asserts, that it was all the work of his own
hands—that 1s, that no one assisted him to commit the awful act.
Morgan closed his statement in the following words:
“T had a good wife; she was always good and kind to me;
she had talked to me time and time again about my soul's salva-
tion. If I had only listened to her I might not have been in such
a condition to-day; this is an awful trying thing, knowing that
I will have to die and leave my darling wife and child.
“JT hope that God will reward her for the kindness she has
shown ine through this trouble. :
“T ask God to forgive me for the way I have dotie. I ask in
the name of God, for the people never to throw this awful crime
up to my lovely child or dear wife. My desire is to go from this
world toa better one. This for a warning to all who reads it.
May God forbid that no one ever harbors an evil thought of this
kind in their hearts. I am thankful to the ministers who have
called on me since my confinement, and praying with me and
instructing in the way of a better life. I thank the jailer and
family for the kindness they have shown me since I have been
here.
“T am also thankful to my guards for the way they have
treated me. I am thankful to the sheriff of Jackson County, the
way he has treated me up to the present time
“This brings this all toa close, and I bid you all farewell, and
pray to God that he may take care of my dear wife and child.”
JOHN F. MorRGAN.
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. S1
MORGAN'S ESCAPE FROM JAIL,
HIS RECAPTURE.
On the evening of December 2, Morgan expressed a desire
to retire early. He had been engaged the greater part of the day
in dictating his confession. About 3 p. m. he was let out the
cage into the corridor, when he suggested to Jailer Riley and
Charles Jewell, one of the guards, to get the checker board and
play a game of checkers, which they did. Morgan witnessed
the game, not knowing anything, however, about: playing, but
pretending to be greatly interested, telling the players the game
was very close and exciting. When they had finished one
game
he requested them ‘to play another,-and while this was going ou
Morgan went into his cage, pretending to go to bed, asking the
Jailer and euards not to arouse him for supper, as he had bee
losing a great deal of sleep and did not wish to be disturbed: but
to let him know in the morning how they “came out in their
game of checkers.”
While he was talking he was arranging the bed clothes in
the shape of a paddy apparently, placing a newspaper over his
face, a custom which he had been following for two wecks past,
claiming the light hurt his eyes.
Morgan then slipped out of the cage and around to the other
side and climbed on top of it. Jailer Riley and Guard Jewell
finished their game of checkers. Riley then arose and locked
the cage door, at the same time asking Morgan how he felt, Mor-
gan answering from on top of the cage directly over his bed,
“very well.”
Guard Jewell at this time retired; returning about.
o'clock, going to bed in a cage adjoining that of Morgan's.
Jailer Riley remained on duty until 11 o’clock p. m., and
82 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
was then relieved by Guard M. F. Riley. At 11:30 Guard M. F.
Riley went into the part of the jail occupied by the Jailer, two
doors west of Morgan’s cell, to eat a lunch, leaving the cell door
open. This was the opportunity Morgan had been waiting for,
aud climbing down from the top of the cage, he walked out into
the hall and opening the hall door, which was unlocked, made
his escape.
Guard Riley returned and remained on duty until 3 o’clock
a.m., which time he was to be relieved by Guard Jewell. ‘That
gentleman went around to the back side of the cage near Mor-
gan’s bed and listened attentatively for Morgan's breathing, but
could not hear him. He then remarked to Guard Riley that
something was wrong, and taking an iron poker raised up the
paper, but found nothing but the pillow and a bundle of bed
clothes. He at once raised the alarm, awakening Deputy
Sheri? R. P. Shinn. who had remained in town. Mr. Shinn im-
immediately dispatched Guard Jewell .for his brother, Sheriff J.-O.
Shinn, who was at his home, ten miles south of Ripley. Jewell
reached the Sheriff's residence about daylight, and by 9 o'clock
a.m. at least two hundred and fifty deputized men had gone in
different directions looking for the fugitive. All were directed
by the Sheriff to take him alive. The Sheriff proceeded to the
residence of Morgan's father-in-law, where he found the wife of
Morgan. Jn answer to inquiries as to whether her husband had
been there, she said, “ Sheriff, I have sworn no lies in this mat-
ter, and request you to ask me no questions.”
When Morgan escaped he went in the direction of his former
home, two miles south of Ripley; he took a horse belonging to
A. S. Casto, from a stable near the highway; he rode directly to
his father’s-in-law, about ten miles from Ripley, reaching there
about 1:50 a. m. December 3, remaining there until about 4
o'clock a. m., securing while there a valise and one additional
coat and vest, a cap, some apples and a supply of tobacco. He
then remounted the horse he had taken and started in the
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 83
direction of his brother’s-in-law, Enoch Casto, who lives about
nine miles southeast from where his father-in-law resides.
After leaving his father-in-law he rode about three miles, or
to near where G. W. Shamblen lives, the place where he was first
arrested after committing hiscrime. Turning the horse loose, at
this point, he took to the fields and woods and crossing the ridge
to main Grass Lick Creek he passed through the Pfost farm
where he had committed his terrible crimes. He continued his
journey through the woods to near where his brother-in-law lives,
where he concealed himself behind some rocks until near dark.
He then went to his brother-in-law’s house and got his supper
and a box of matches, requesting them not to tell of his presence
there or he would come back and kill them and, if they. did tell
it, he would haunt them after he was dead,and then continued
his journey.
As soon as he departed from his brother's-in-law his sister in-
formed her neighbors that he had been at their place. After
leaving his sister's, he traveled through the woods, some four or
five miles, which brought him into Roane County and a strange
region to him. ‘There, he says, he stole another horse and after
riding hard all night he found himself at the place where he had
taken the horse; he then built a fire in the woods where he re-
mainded until noon. He then called at Armsted Harper’s, who
lives on Flat Fork, Roane County, and asked fordinner. After
dinner he employed Mr. Harper to take his horses and convey.
him to Walton, in said county, about eight miles distant.
Morgan informed Harper that his name was Hickman, that
he had just passed through Jackson County and that John Mor-
gan, the noted murderer, had escaped from jail and there was
great excitement among the people, and that he was last heard of
near the Great Kanawha River, and that a posse of men was in
hot pursuit. During the journey to Walton, Harper and Morgan
fell in’ with W. B. Parsons, a minister, who resides near where
Morgan committed his crimes aud who is well acquainted with
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78 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
before the Revolutionary War, and as early as 1785 some of the
families found homes on the West Fork of the Monongahela
River, where the town of Shinnston, Harrison County, now
stands. From here and the South Branch River came the repre-
sentatives of the family who found homes in Jackson and adjoin-
ing counties.
His father, Hon. George W. Shinn, now deceased, served the
people as a public officer for a period of sixteen years. J. O.
Shinn was first spoken of for Sheriff in 1892, but was defeated
for the nomination by a very small majority, he having carried
his own and other districts almost to a man. In 1896, the tide
had grown so strong in his favor for that office, that no one would
oppose him for the nomination by his party, although many
others were very anxious to fill this most important office. He
has discharged his duties to the entire satisfaction of the people
whom he serves. Mr. Shinn was born in.1859, and is, therefore,
now thirty-seven years of age.
MR. JOUN M. BAKER, Assistant Prosectiting Attorney of Jackson County.
Mr. John M. Baker, who as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of
Jackson County, drew up the indictment upon which John F.
Morgan was arranged and convicted, is a representative of that
large class of young men in West Virginia. to-day, who, betore
beginning the work of life, make the necessary preparation to
enable them to accomplish it successfully. Mr. Baker was born
near Ripley, Jackson County, in 1872, and is therefore twenty-
five years of age. He made the necessary preparation in the
Public Schools and then entered the State Normal School at
Fairmount, and thereafter became a student in the West Virginia
University, from the Law Department of which he was graduated
in 1896, and in August of the same year was admitted to the bar.
;
90 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
Petitioner would further show unto Your Excellency that on
the next day, to-wit: On the 6th day of November, 1897, at the
court-house, and in ‘the county aforesaid, your petitioner was
again sent to the Bar of the said Circuit Court in custody of the
Sheriff of said county, and was by said Circuit Court, on the day
and year last aforesaid, sentenced to be hanged by the neck, by
the Sheriff of said county, until he, this petitioner, be dead, and
that said court fixed upon the 16th day of December, 1897, as
the date upon which your petitioner is to be hanged:
Petitioner says that the Court, in passing sentence upon this
petitioner did not fix the time of his, this petitioner’s execution,
between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 2 o'clock in
the afternoon of said 16th day of December, 1897, but that the
hours aforesaid, of 10 o'clock and 2 o’clock, were fixed by said
Circuit Court after this petitioner had been remanded to jail, aud
in this petitioner's absence. See certified copy of the order pur-
porting to be the sentence and judgment of the Court, herewith
filed as part hereof.
Petitioner would further show unto Your Excellency that all
of the evidence adduced by the State against this petitioner, as
well as all of the evidence that could be procured upon such
short notice, and in so short a period of time by your petitioner
in his, your petitioner’s own behalf, is herewith filed as part of
this petition :
Petitioner says that the same is not certified to by Mrs. Anna
MeVey, who was employed by the Court as short-hand reporter
in the case of the State against your petitioner, upon the trial of
the indictment, for the reason that your petitioner has no means
with which to pay for a certified copy of the said evidence, and
your petitioner therefore humbly asks that a copy of evidence
here tendered, be read as part hereof, without being certified by
the said short-hand reporter.
Petitioner says that there was great haste on the part of the
Court in all of the proceedings before it, during said trial, and
POP TET gt Ry re
per weet CER Ck TA PETERS 4
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 91
petitioner says that great excitement prevailed during the time
of the trial of this petitioner as aforesaid; that the court room
in which said trial was had, was crowded with people to its
utmost capacity; that by-standers were continuously around and
near the jury, during the time of the trial as aforesaid; that
thréats of mob violence were made, during said trial, and that
the Court remarked once or twice during the trial of this peti-_
tioner that speedy justice would be done; and that it, the Court,
hoped that the people would let the law take its course; and the
Court also remarked during said trial, and in the presence of the
jury, that the trial of the case would be proceeded with as
speedily as possible; and petitioner says that the Court refused
to give him longer time to make defense to said indictment, and
that this petitioner was rushed and hastened into trial, and by
reason of this extreme and unusual haste in the trial of said
indictment, as aforesaid, great injustice resulted and was done to
this petitioner.
Petitioner ftirther says that if the Court would have granted
this petitiotier more time in which to make proper defense to said
indictment, that an entirely different verdict would have been re-
turned by the jury in said case, and petitioner says that said trial
was rushed along on account of the prejudice of the public
against this petitioner, and for the apparent reason of avoiding
mob violence, which was talked of or threatened by excitable
persons, during the trial of the petitioner as aforesaid.
Petitioner further says that he is informed and believes, and
so charges, that the Constitution of this State guarantees to every
citizen a reasonable time to prepare for his defense, when charged
with crime, but petitioner says that he, this petitioner, was not
granted a reasonable time to prepare his defense to the aforesaid
indictment, but that the same was denied him by the Court.
Petitioner, for the reasons apparent upon the face of the
record filed with this petition, and for the reasons set forth in the
foregoing petition, humbly prays Your Excellency to commute
permonpranivaneie x oe ONONST:
se es
R&S THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
to make a payment on a tract of land which he had purchased.
Whether this story be true or otherwise, his object was to obtain
money.
Since the arrest of Morgan, it has been learned that on the
27th day of October, 1897, he had forged an order, and Mrs. Chloe
Greene’s name thereto, for the sum of five dollars, to Mr. G. W.
Pfost, a merchant at Fair Plain, and a son of the murdered lady,
Mrs. Greene, which order is in the words and figures following:
“OcroBER 27, 1897.
Mr. G. W. Pfost please pay to John Morgan the amount of
five dollars ($5.00). I will settle the same with you.
Your mother,
CHLOK GREENE.”
Mr. G. W. Pfost, knowing that Morgan had staved with his
nother for a lone time, and supposing that she wanted to give
him something, honored the order, letting Morgan have goods to
that amount.
May there not be a secondary motive here which prompted
nim to commit the awful crime? This forgery was a felony, and
vould, when discovered, if he were convicted: of it, send him to
the State prison. But the only one who could testify as to this,
the only one on whose evidence he could be convicted, was Mrs.
Chloe Greene, whose name it was that he had forged, and if she
were out of the way he would be safe. Who shall say that this
was not a consideration with him as a secondary motive?
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA,
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER.
CHARLESTON, December 6, 1897.
O. J. Morrison, Esq.,
Care Stag Hotel, near Arcade,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
DEAR Srix:—I enclose herewith, at the request of Attorney
D. A. Brown, of Ripley, copy of the petition presented by John F.
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. =< 39
Morgan, sentenced by the Jackson County Circuit Court, to be
hung on December 16, 1897, for the murder of the Greene family.
Very respectfully,
RospertT A. COLEMAN,
Assistant Secretary.
THE PETITION TO THE GOVERNOR.
On November 18, 1897, the following petition was made to
the Governor by John F. Morgan, through his Counsel, D. A.
Brown, and taken to the Governor by Mr. Brown in person:
To His EXceLLENCY, GEORGE W. ATKINSON,
Governor of West Virginia.
Your petitioner, John F. Morgan, would respectfully and
humbly represent unto Your Excellency that heretofore, on the
ith day of November, 1837, your petitioner was by the Grand
Jury of Jackson County, West Virginia, indicted for the murder
of one Mrs. Chloe Greene, on the day of November, 1897 -
all which will more fally and at large appear by reference toa
certified copy of said indictment, herewith filed, and asked to be
read as part hereof:
Petitioner would further show unto your excellency that on
the next day, to-wit. : On the 5th day of November, 1897, in the
county aforesaid, at the court-house thereof, a jury was im-
pannelled by the Circuit Court of said County, to try your
petitioner upon the said indictment, and your petitioner says,
that a trial of said indictment against your petitioner was had,
and that a verdict was returned by the jury impannelled as afore-
said, as follows:
“We, the Jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the
first degree, as charged in the within indictment. J. D. Bradley,
Foreman.” :
See the certified copy of the order impannelling said Jury
and recording said verdict, filed herewith and asked to be read as
part hereof :
) alee *
part,
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
BOP ORITLREN. the Jailer, who had Morgan in his care.
NOTES.
What were the motives which prompted John F. Morgan to
commit the awful deed? This is a question which has been fre-
quently asked, and all answers are that his primary object was
money. This is shown by the fact that as quickly as he had
beaten his victims into insensibility, he began a search for money.
But a few minutes elapsed before John Chancey, his son and
Idward Southall, reached the scene. As they approached it, the
former called to his companions to hasten forward. ‘This, doubt-
less, alarmed Morgan, and he hurried away to his own home.
But before doing this he had searched various pockets in the
clothing hanging around the walls, and from the pocket. of his
aged victim he is supposed to have taken the keys which enabled
him to open the drawers in a bureau. These he is supposed to
have been rumaging when freightened by the call of Mr.
Chancey.
Mrs. Greene also had a pocket-book containing some gold
pieces of rare date, which she always carried in her pocket; this
was gone. It is the opinion of many that the coat that Morgan
elas aN # :
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LE Te RMA. OR 6 Wee Ae tk RNS eee ONG E SE ae eS? RAD ew a fa a8
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
wore at the time he committed the crime, and which he concealed
aud refused to tell where, if it is ever found, this money and
pocket-book will be found with it.
About two weeks before the murder, Morgan inquired of one
of Mr. Amos Gordon’s'sons, who lives near and works some for
Mr. Samuel Simmons, who was owing this note to the Greene
family for the horse, if he knew whether or not it had been paid.
Since the commission of the crime it has developed that Mr.
J. D. ‘Skidmore, who resides at Skidmore Post Office in Jackson
County, visited the Greene family a few days before the murder
to purchase a horse, which was the property of Miss Alice Pfost.
That lady was absent from home, but Mr. Skidmore looked at
the horse, ascertained the price asked for it and left, saying that
he thought he would return to make the purchase. John Mor-
gan appears to have learned this, for he went to the residence o!
Mr. Skidmore and asked that gentleman if he liked the horse,
and received for a reply from him that he was very well pleased
with it. Morgan then inquired if he (Skidmore) would pay cash
for the horse, and was informed that a check, the equivalent. of
cash, would be given. To this Morgan replied, that he need
not offer a check, for the lady would take nothing but the
money. Mr. Skidmore then said it did not matter as he had
another horse im view, and he did not go back to purchase thie
horse at the Greene home. What was Morgan's object in all
this? Was it not to obtain such information as would enable
him to strike the blow at such time as he could secure the
mouey? ‘The check would be worse than useless: hence [n-
efforts to have Mr. Skidmore pay the cash.
Since Morgan’s incarceration it has developed that shortly
before the butchery of the family, he took a horse belonging to
Prof. J. W. Greene, in whose house Morgan lived, and made an
effort to sell it, riding over portions of Jackson and Roane
Counties to do this, offering to take twenty-five dollars as a con-
sideration, saying in explanation that he wished to obtain money
eta hmnens
ee
Soo cea Yanan
pes
Aas
“*
92 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
the sentence awarded by the Circuit Court of Jackson County,
West Virginia, on the 6th day of November, 1897, against this
petitioner, upon condition that this petitioner be confined in the
penitentiary of this State for such period of time as Your Excel-
lency may deem proper; and petitioner here asserts to any order
Your Excellency may make, in commutation of the sentence
awarded by the Circuit Court of Jackson County, West Virginia,
as aforesaid. And, further, petitioner most humbly prays that
Your Excellency shall, and will, exercise the power conferred on
Your Excellency as Governor of this State, by the Constitution
of this State, to commute capital punishment in this petitioner's
behalf, and that Your Excellency, as Governor, make and cause
to be executed all orders and warrants necessary to carry such
commutation into effect, and as, in duty bound, your petitioner
will ever pray. Joun F. MORGAN,
By Counsel.
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, JACKSON COUNTY, TO-WIT:
John F. Morgan, the petitioner named in the foregoing petition,
being duly sworn, says that the facts and allegations therein con-
tained are true, except so far as they are herein- stated to be on
information ; and that so far as they are herein stated to be upon
information, he believes them to be true.
Joun F. MORGAN.
Taken, sworn to and subscribed before me, this 17th day of
November, 1897. W.H. O'BRIEN,
Notary Public.
Upon this, Governor Atkinson was asked to commute the
death sentence to imprisonment. ‘That official directed Drs. T. B.
Camden and L. V. Guthrie, the former for eight years the super-
intendent of the hospital for the insane at Weston, and the latter,
the present superintendent of the hospital for the insane at
Spencer, and both experienced in the treatment of the insane to
Fae A TA I OS Spe ae eae
m Poe’ Pu ee eg Oe EO RS AS Ae
Sd oh Aanitne Wut Pio are ba PAB ad rr ied be
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 93
make inquiry into Morgan’s mental condition. This they did by
visiting him at his cell, November 23d, and upon their reports the
Governor refused to interfere in the course of the law. Andon
November 30th, J. A. Seaman, Prosecuting Attorney of Jackson
County, before hearing any official report from the Governor,
went in person to the Governor’s office, with the following swortl
statements:
SpaTE OF WEST VIRGINIA, JACKSON COUNTY, TO-WIT:
Personally appeared before me the undersigned authority, Dr.
I,. F. Campbell, who being duly sworn, says, l ama physician and
surgeon, and have been in the active practice of my profession for
over twenty-eight years; the night before and on the morning of
the trial of John F. Morgan, charged with murder of the Greene
family, on motion of his (Morgan's) counsel, I, together with D.
D. Casto, another physician, was, by the Court, sent to the jail
where Morgan was confined, to ascertain the mental condition of
the said Morgan; that after making such examination, I was
then and am still of the opinion, that he (Morgan) was not in-
sane. and that his was a case of extreme depravity.
; t PF CAuppeni. MOD.
Subscribed and sworn to before me in my said county, this
the 29th day of November, 1897. J. A. SEAMAN,
Notary Public.
SraTE OF WEST VIRGINIA, JACKSON CoUuNTY, TO-WIT:
Personally appeared before me the undersigned authority, Dr.
D. D. Casto, who being by me duly sworn, says, I am a physician
and surgeon; that the night before and on the morning of
the trial of John F. Morgan, charged with the murder of the
Greene family, on the motion of his (Morgan's) counsel, I, to-
gether with L. F. Campbell, another physician was, by the Court,
sent to the jail where Morgan was confined to ascertain the men-
tal condition of the said Morgan: that after making such exami-
bi
96 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
day, when it was continued. Late in the evening the argument
for both State and prisoner ceased, and the jury retired. Ina
short time it returned and rendered a verdict of ‘‘ Murder in the
first degree in the manner and form as the indictment against
him alleges.” | 3
The prisoner was returned to jail to await sentence. On the
Ist day of April, he was again brought into court, and when asked
if he had anything to say, why judgment should not be rendered
against him, he replied, “nothing, but what I have already said.”
Judge David McComas then sentenced him to be taken by the
Sheriff of Jackson County, from the jail, on the 10th day of May
ensuing, to a scaffold to be erected in or near the town of Ripley,
and there hanged until dead. Later he was reprieved until July
12th. During the period of his incarceration, pending his execu-
tion, he made a full confession of his crime, which, when pub-
lished, covered nearly forty pages of a large pamphlet.
: At length the fatal day arrived: the scaffold had been erected
in a ravine, ever since known as Green's Hollow, about one-half
mile northeast of the court house. It was a sultry July morning,
and the sun had risen above the eastern hills; hundreds had
arrived upon the scene, and by the hour of 11 o'clock, fully three
thousand persons from Jackson and adjoining counties were
swarming upon the streets of Ripley. One hundred state militia .
formed a hollow square about the jail. At lp. M., a wagon con-
taining a coffin was driven within the square, and the doomed
man walked forth, and mounted upon his own casket, was driven
to the fatal spot. Arrived there, he dismounted, and with his
spiritual adviser, ascended the scaffold, where he delivered a short
address to the multitude. The black cap was then drawn down,
the rope adjusted, the signal given, and Charles Green swung
into eternity. Twenty minutes later, Drs. W. B. McMahon,
F. A. Holt, and A. Regnaud, pronounced life extinct. ‘The body
was then cut down and interred about thirty yards from the
scaffold. Thus terminated the first execution in Jackson County,
and the only one previous, to varies Jghigh Morgan.
‘
>
ora
x AE iW
rie
) es
LAST PUBLIC HANGING DESCRIBED
On December 16, 1897, Ripley in Jackson County was
the scene of the last public hanging in West Virginia,
with one John F. Morgan the featured attraction.
Morgan's part. .in the macabre spectacle was enthusiasti-
cally enjoyed by over 5,000 men, women and children, many
of whom had journeyed for days over frozen mud from as
far away as Meigs County, Ohio.
Indeed, so widespread was the interest aroused in
the murders committed by Morgan, and his subsequent swift
hanging, that the New York Sun sent a special reporter to
Ripley to cover the event. His colorful, full-page
report left out no details.
According to the reporter's story in the Sun, the
crowd began arriving two days before the scheduled event
until "every road and path leading into the town of
Ripley was clogged with men and women on horse back,
families in wagons, buggies and every conceivable type of
conveyance," |
Morgan was described as a shiftless fellow who fre-
quently worked for Mrs. Chloe Green, widowed mother of
three children. On the evening of Nov. 3, 1897, Morgan
had worked late and had spent the night at the Green
home.
The records state that, "In the morning he went with
Mrs. Green's son to feed the hogs. At the pen he picked
up a hatchet behind him, waited around the kitchen until
the youngest daughter's back was turned, when he struck
her down, and proceeding into the dining room, he crept
upon another daughter, killed her with a couple blows
from the hatchet, and finally battered in the door of the
bedroom where the mother was dressing and struck her
dead.
"It had happened that the blow he struck the
youngest daughter was not fatal and while Morgan was
killing her mother and sister, she fled to a neighbor's
home for help."
Morgan was arrested that afternoon by Sheriff J. A.
Shinn and taken to the Ripley jail. Justice was jammed
into high gear and he was indicted the next day, tried
and convicted the following day and sentenced to be
hanged on Dec. 16,—just a little over a month from the
date of his crime.
The Greene family had been prominent and popular
members of the community and feeling ran high.
141
94 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
nation, I was then and am still of the opinion, that he (Morgan)
was perfectly sane. I have frequently observed him since his
conviction and am of the opinion that he is still sane.
“es Dennis D. Casro, M. D.
Subscribed and sworn to before me in my said county, this
the 29th day of November, 1897. Joun M. BAKER,
Notary Public.
As the place of execution, Sheriff Shinn selected a beautiful
spot on the Ripley and Charleston Pike, one-half mile scuth of
Ripley, and there Major C. H. Progler, an expert mechanic,
erected the scaffold. Major Progler married the daughter of
Nehemiah Smith who, as high sheriff of Jackson County, hung
Charles Green, the only legal execution that has heretofore
occurred in the county.
Morgan stretched the same hemp that put out of existence
Joe Brown, Amos Slaughter, Will Lewis and Albert Voirs.
Morgan was pronounced dead by Dr. D. D. Casto and Dr.
Earley Harrison.
Scaffold on which Morgan paid his debt.
ni
* . ee
doe t ete sae date
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 95
APPENDIX.
EXECUTION OF CHARLES GREEN.
THE ONLY LEGAL EXECUTION THAT EVER OCCURED IN JACK-
SON COUNTY PREVIOUS TO THAT OF JOHN F. MORGAN.
The only public execution that has ever taken place in Jack-
son County—previous to that of Morgan—was that of Charles
Green, who éxpiated his crime on the scaffold, Friday, July 12
1850, for the murder of Timothy Fox, on the 24th day of July of
the preceding year, in Park’s Lane, about one mile above the
town of Ravenswood, on the Ohio River. Both men had disem-
barked from a steamboat that had been compelled to lay up at
Buffington’s Island ou account of low water. Neither the mur-
derer nor his victim was a resident of Jackson County. It was
one of the most unprovoked murders, an .account of which is re-
corded in the criminal annals of V irginia.
Green was arrested a few days after the murder and placed
in the County jail to await trial. An indictment for murder was
returned against him onthe 26th of March, 1850. On the same
day he was arraigned before the bar to answer to the charge.
His counsel demurred to the indictment, but the demurrer was
overruled, and a jury composed of the following named gentle-
men was empannelled: Leonard R. King, Thomas Paxton,
Henry Lane, John Lee, Abraham Pfost, Jacob B. Hyre, William
Harpold, John H. Chase, George W. Fields, Elisha Stewart,
Spencer Adams, and Wilson Kountz. The jury was placed in
charge of Nehemiah Smith, High Sheriff, and Mathias B. Arm-
strong, his deputy, and the prisoner was remanded to jail until
the next day. At 9a. m. the next day the jury and the prisoner
were brought into court, and Charles Green was placed on trial
for his life. Throughout the day the trial was continued; even-
ing came, the prisoner was removed to be returned on the third
HISTORY OF THE CRIME AND TRIAL OF SIM JOHNSON
THE COURTS AND THE BAR
Development of Virginia County Government
1607-190415
91
JAMESTOWN FOUNDED
+ 1610 Tcentaar GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL EXERCISED ALL AUTHORITY
COURT MADE
UP OF GOVERNOR
L 1620. 4 AND CouNciL
INCORPORATIONS ESTABLISHED CLERK PARISH
MONTHLY COURTS
r 1630 +
COUNTY ESTABLISHED SHERIFF SURVETOR
r 1640 - COUNTY COURT
1650 -
r 1660 -
F 61670 4
g 1680 4 CORUREX
r 1690 4+
1700 =
r 6«I71I0 +
r §=1720 4
r 6=1730 =5
1740 +
r i750 4
r 1760 +
CONSTITUTION 7
SR nn
+ 1780 +
JOVERSEERS]
r 1790 + OWSTRKT OF THE
COURTS POOR ATTORNEY]
FOR THE
= senor | COMmot
1800 = BOARD | WEALTH
r }=I8IO 4+
Fr 61820 6 4 BOARD
OF
[Conner irwnien ECTIONS
- 1830- 4-- 4---} -------------4 Seeleese=s = Pe aoe ee ee eee eee
oF 1650
L 1840 +
CONSTITUTION
i Se te -“—~ sw we ew weer ew en eS ee Se Se ee ae eK HH = 4 Sed al ee
r 1860 4
|_COMSTITUTION
2 ie ie Related omnes eeeesere teleitt-a ae --- -=- we ole @ ole ew ole @ aww ole o alow o ae wo
- 1870 4 County [yustices BOARD OF
court | OF THE SUPERVISORS
PEACE
Fr 61880 -
Fr 61890 -
ATTORNEY
1900 sorecse ri’ ew re
— — OU = [Sverime | | OF 7 ~-—-____|} tte {| _ _| _ _ |eoasn OF THE | SCHOOL | COMMON:
const or soz [covet F ciecbin TOOT] peace [BOARD “Gr Gurtavisoas” forvenue Teiautufincen® trees [eokont a Tconstasit] GieRx [sunvevoR] POOR | BOARD [WEALTH |
15. Albert Ogden Porter, County Government in Virginia: A Legislative History
1607-1904, 1947, p. 348.
) .
rd
owned, rode between two members of the clergy in the
first wagon. He was still singing hymns in his thin,
throaty falsetto.
"In spite of his position," the old report states,
"it was written on his face as plainly as any thing ever
was written.on a man's face, that he was proud of himself
in his new suit and shiny new shoes."
According to the story in the Jackson Herald of that
day, there was, “one proud woman" in the crowd. She was
the court stenographer who had taken the testimony at
Morgan's trial and, "as she walked up the gallows steps
‘to watch the proceedings, cast on her were the envious
eyes of every woman in the crowd." The sheriff had
promised her she would be the only woman permitted on the
gallows.
Standing on the scaffold, Morgan tipped his hat and
bowed to all the crowd. After his hands were tied and
the noose adjusted around his neck, the first minister
offered a prayer lasting 12 minutes. The second
preacher, not to be outdone, prayed for 15 minutes.
During the prayers the shrill cries of the hawkers
never ceased.
"Hot roasted peanuts, 5 cents; Morgan's picture, 10
cents. Your last chance. He'll never have another took!"
"A whispering hush fell as the trap was sprung, a_
violent surging forward of the crowd to see the man who
was no longer above eye level, and then loud shouts of
I reckon you done well, Sheriff."
And so John F. Morgan was tipped into eternity to
the carnival sounds of hawkers and laughter, crying
babies and raucus catcalls. An era was ended in West
Virginia.
Very shortly after this unsavory spectacle the state
legislature passed a bill prohibiting public executions.
It was among the first of the states to do so.
Two Cottageville residents made their own
coffins and set up their own grave marker
It is not often that a town as small as Cottageville
would have two men living in it, both of whom had their
coffins made and their monuments erected while they were
still living. These men were, W. L. Beckwith and G. W.
Sayre.
143
a
at le at ee
e | @
Morgan himself added to the interest in the case by
making no less than seven “true and only confessions,"
each different from the others, but only the last denying
his guilt. He adadea further interest two weeks before
the hanging date by the simple expedient of fixing up a
dummy in his cell, calmly walking out of jail and disap-
pearing. He was at large two days before he was finally
captured. Still more excitement was aroused by Morgan's
repeated oaths that he would never hang, at least not on
the scheduled date.
Sheriff Shinn vowed with equal vehemence that
Morgan would hang and on schedule. And to back up his
statements he issued widespread ana general invitations
to all to come witness the event. All this no doubt,
helped account for the record-breaking crowd.
According to the N. Y. Sun reporter, "The night
before the hanging was a jolly night in Ripley"
A theatrical troupe consisting of two men and a
woman had come to town and hired the hall where they
reaped a rich harvest ending each performance by hanging
a ‘man’ on the stage to the great delight of the
audience.
Hawkers and fakirs selling everything from peanuts
to gold watches set up stands and cried their wares in
the milling throng around the jail. Five gallon jugs
were plentiful and the carnival spirit lasted throughout
the night.
During the early morning a rumor began circulating
that Morgan was to be reprieved by the Governor. The
Sheriff, fearing to lose face—and possibly bets—
decided it was better to disappoint late commers than the
thousands already on hand. Declaring, "I promised you a
hanging and there's a-going to be one," he ordered the
proceedings to start before the possible arrival of any
reprieve.
The gallows had been erected in a ten acre field on
the cdge of town where thousands of people had camped and
picnicked for days. On the morning of the "Big Day",
many had climbed into trces early, pulling their lunch up
after them, in order to have a better view of the show.
Large numbcrs had lined up solidly acainst a barbed
wire fenee around the callows platform. Although pres-
sure from the packed crowd tore them against the barbs
they woulc not relingvish their front row position for a
better view of the hanaind.
The procession from the jail to the gibbet was gay,
rollicking mob, sincine and shouting.
John horqan, clothed in tte farst suit he had evcr
scant Bide Sh >
92 HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Date of Appointment
George I. Davisson 1820
William L. Jackson 1827
George I. Davisson 1829
George H. Lee 1837
William A. Harrison 1839
Harrison County, Virginia (later West Virginia)
Prosecuting Attorneys
1852-1969
Date of Taking
Office After Election
Benjamin Wilson 1852
Andrew P. Davisson 1860
Alexander C. Moore 1866
John Bassel 1877
Alexander C. Moore 1881
Charles W. Lynch 1885
Philip Clifford 1889
Charles W. Lynch 1893
J. E. Law 1901
William E. Morris 1905
Judson Findley 1913
Will Morris 1917
Philip Clifford, Jr. 1933
Robert Ziegler 1953
Edmund J. Matko 1969
Clemmons’ Murders
One of the most spectacular murders in frontier West Virginia occurred
at Clarksburg on the night of November 8, 1805,!° when Abel Clem-
mons?!7 killed his wife and eight children with an axe. The incident
aroused the entire Monongahela Valley. Joseph Campbell, publisher of the
Monongalia Gazette at Morgantown, immediately issued a special broad-
side entitled Murder—Horrible Murder! A few months later he provided
the public with a complete account of the event in a publication which
included not only Clemmons’ confession but also a letter which he wrote
his brother the day before he was hanged and the exhortation of the judge
who tried and sentenced Clemmons. The account of the Clemmons murder
became a “horror classic” of the frontier and was reprinted many times.!®
Barbara Carpenter Clemans, daughter of Nicholas Carpen-
ter,’? and her eight children—Elijah, Hester, Rachel, Mary, Eliz-
abeth, Benjamin, Parthense, and Ann—were murdered in their
cabin near Philippi Street, Clarksburg, sometime between 9:00
in the evening of November 10, 1805,!© and early morning of
16. Note discrepancy in dates of the murders.
17. Clemmons: also spelled ‘‘Clemans,” ‘‘Clemens,” and ‘‘Clemmens.”
18. Rice, pp. 184-85.
19. Harrison County, Va., Deed Book No. 3, p. 319.
94 HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Wood, Randolph, Harrison, Lewis, Preston, and Monongalia
counties with sessions of the court scheduled in April and Sep-
tember of each year. The Fourth District Court held its first
session in Clarksburg on Monday, May 18, 1812, with Dabney
Carr, chancellor; John L. Sehon, clerk; and John Prunty, ser-
geant at arms. During the nineteen years the court existed, until
the Constitution of 1830 merged the courts of law and equity
into the superior court of law and chancery, Dabney Carr pre-
sided as chancellor for twelve years and held his last court in the
fall of 1823; Judge Carr was succeeded by Judge Henry St.
George Tucker who was chancellor until 1831. John L. Sehon
served as clerk during the entire nineteen-year history of the
court.
A court of common law of general jurisdiction, called the
general court, was the first law court—other than the county
courts—held west of the mountains. By the act of 1788 the
state of Virginia was divided into districts, with the court for
northwestern Virginia assigned to meet twice each year at Mor-
gantown, presided over by one of the five judges elected by the
General Assembly. The arduous task of traveling hundreds of
miles on horseback through the trackless wilderness of the fron-
tier to a courthouse which was little more than a log cabin and
quarters where the landlord might provide only a deerskin
thrown on the floor for a bed, caused the five judges of the
general court to live lives of hardship.
The General Assembly in 1808 established twelve circuit
courts to replace the general court. The Eleventh Circuit includ-
ed Brooke, Ohio, Monongalia, Harrison, Wood, Mason, and Ka-
nawha counties. The first meeting of the Circuit Court in Harri-
son County was held in Clarksburg beginning on May 1, 1809,
with Hugh Nelson as judge and Benjamin Wilson, Jr., as clerk.
Judges of the Circuit Court Meeting in Harrison County, Virginia
(later West Virginia)
1809-1969
Hugh Nelson
Daniel Smith
Lewis Summers
Edwin S. Duncan
George H. Lee
Gideon D. Camden
William A. Harrison
Thomas W. Harrison
Charles S. Lewis
A. Brooks Fleming
Alpheus F. Haymond
John M. Hagans
John W. Mason
May term 1809
Spring term 1811
Spring term 1819
June term 1831
May term 1848
July term 1852
Spring term 1862
September term 1863
May term 1873
May term 1878
September term 1888
January term 1889
September term 1900
THE COURTS AND THE BAR 93
November 11, 1805. The husband and father of the family,
Abel Clemans, appeared before justices—Benjamin Robinson,
William Martin, John Davis, Richard Bond, and Alison Clark—
who were present at the November 28, 1805, session of the
Harrison County Court. The justices ‘““demanded of him (Clem-
ans) whether he was guilty of the offence wherewith he stands
charged or not. He said he was in no wise guilty thereof.”’”°
The court was “of the opinion that the prisoner ought to be
tryed in the district court.”?! The district court in Morgantown
found Abel Clemans guilty of the murders. He was executed in
Morgantown in June 1806.
The publication of the pamphlet and broadside in 1806 in
Morgantown is one of the few instances in which local happen-
ings were given an important place in the news. A second broad-
side was printed in 1815, in Clarksburg:
[Deibler, George]
A succinct narrative of the life and character of Abel Clemmens, who
was executed at Morgantown... June, 1806, for the murder of his wife
and eight children ... Morgantown, Printed by J. Campbell, for the pro-
prietors, 1806. 40 pp.
Murder... Horrible Murder!! Clarksburg, Virginia, November 1805
[sic] ... [Murder by Abel Clemmons of his wife and eight children] [Mor-
gantown? 1806?] Broadside.
Shocking murder. Abel Clemmons murdered his wife and eight chil-
dren. Clarksburg, (Vir.) Jan. 11, 1815. Broadside.
Other Courts
The state of Virginia continued the same court system, with
the jurisdictions of law and equity wholly separate, as had been
in use when Virginia was a British colony. Only the county
courts and corporation courts were at once courts of law and
equity and even here the two jurisdictions were never blended.
At first, in imitation of the English system, there existed but
one superior court of chancery in Richmond. Then in 1802 the
state was divided into three districts and a chancery court pro-
vided to hold sessions at Richmond, Williamsburg, and Staun-
ton. In 1811, the number of districts was increased to nine with
courts to be held in Norfolk, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg,
Wytheville, Winchester, and Clarksburg. The Clarksburg Court
served the Fourth District composed of Brooke, Ohio, Tyler,
20. Harrison County, Va., Court. Minute Book 1805-1806, p. 75.
21. Ibid.
22. Norona and Shetler, nos. 358, 582, 720.
THE COURTS AND THE BAR 103
whose members lived by preying on others—believed that
“might is right.” “By good members,” said Fiorello, “is meant
those capable of performing the most murders, robberies, etc.,
with utmost secrecy. To qualify for certain degree work in the
society one must have seven murders to his credit.”’3° Fiorello
added that Richard Ferri had committed seventeen murders and
that the others had performed an average of three murders
apiece. [In the 1920’s, the names “Black Hand,” ‘‘Mafia,”’ and
“Camorra’”’ were almost interchangeable in the public mind. |
Indictments for Berona, Bozzi, Lecesse, Jergo, and Tonelli
were discharged on April 5, 1923. When the trial opened on
April 9, the courtroom had a military appearance. Uniformed
policemen with automatic pistols strapped to their sides stood
in the hallway and around the walls of the room; plainclothes-
men sat among the spectators. On April 8 a voice over the tele-
phone had told Frank Cavelle, “If you or Rocco Fiorello go to
the courthouse Monday morning, you will be killed.”’! Fiorel-
lo told reporters: “The danger is not now. Six months or a year
from now when the excitement is over is when the danger will
be.” Prosecuting Attorney Will E. Morris represented the state;
Attorneys Clarence B. Sperry and B. Merendino, the defense.
On April 10 a jury found Nicholas Salamante guilty of murder
in the first degree and on April 14 Judge John Southern sen-
tenced the prisoner to die in Moundsville on June 2, 1923, the
fifth _man in the history of Harrison County to receive the death
enalty. [The others had been Thomas Queen, sentenced
June11, 1813, and hanged near Elk Creek not far north of the
central business district in Clarksburg; Frank Johnson, July 17,
1908, and William Furbish, March 11, 1911, both hanged in
Moundsville. The fourth man—Frank Pauletta—was sentenced
April 26, 1914, but escaped from jail and never was appre-
hended. | °?
Excitement increased during the trials of Richard Ferri and
Philip Connizarro when Thomas C. Restifo, a wealthy auto-
mobile dealer from Baltimore, offered Deputy Carmi Ash a
$1,000 bribe if he would try to influence the jurors. Restifo was
arrested.33_ Ferri and Connizarro, on April 21, 1923, were sen-
tenced to hang; and James Aillio, on April 25, was sentenced to
hang.** Philip Micciche pleaded guilty and was sentenced on
30. The Daily Telegram, Clarksburg, W. Va., March 11, 1923.
31. Ibid., April 8, 1923.
32. Ibid., April 15, 1923.
33. Ibid., April 20, 1923.
34. Harrison County, W. Va., Criminal Order Book No. 8, pp. 94-98.
, arg OG A Gblaf/
POWERS, Marry F., hanged West Virginia, 3-18-1932,
"KEEPS CALM AS VERDICT IS RECEIVED: JURY DELIBERATES FOR HOUR AND 50
MINUTES: TO HEAR PLEAS ROR NW TRIAL: POWERS CHEWS GUM: Clarksburg, W,
Va., Dec, 10 (AP) - Harry F, Powers was convicted today of murder in the
first degree for the 'matrimonial racket! slaying of Mrs, Dorothy
Pressler Lemke, Northboro, Mass,, divorcee, The verdict carried a
mandatory sentence of hanging. It took 1 hour and 50 minutes for the
twelve farmers and small town businessmen to decide that the man who
wooed dozens of women by mail should go to the gallows for the first of
five killings he is accused of perpetrating in the subeerranean death
chambers of his windowless, sound-proof garage at Quiet Dell. J. “a
Law, defense counsel, made a motion to have the verdict set adide,
Arguments for a new trial will be heard Saturday, The jury deliberated
in a dressing room in the basement of KHX&K the town opera house, where
the trial was held in order to accomodate the hundreds of townspeople
who for months had been singing songs, reading books and playing phono-
graph records about the 'Bluebeard slaying at Quiet Dell.' If Powers
had any but a passing concern in what was being decided downstairs, he
hid it perfectly...(rest of article cut off.)" Unnamed Springfield,
Tll,, newspaper dated Dec, 11, 1931 (1/last column) sent by Van Raalte,
Mrs. Fleming accuses "Bluebeard" of
murdering sister, Mrs. Lemke. (Above)
Advertisement inserted in newspaper
by "Pierson" while searching for bride
ge fess ¥
q
€
and gas royalties and other properties,
the details of which I will give you
later if you desire them.
My wife can have everything within
reason that money can buy, and above
all I expect to give her that true love
and absolute devotion for which every
one of us craves so much in life.
Death has taken my precious wife
from me, leaving me quite alone and
very lonely. I am longing for someone
to take her place—some one to fill that
empty space in my heart. Women are
the sweetest, purest and most unselfish
part of the human race. They sing the
melodies of human life. Any man who
has experienced a mother’s devotion, a
wife’s self-sacrificing love or a sweet-
heart’s unselfish affection, knows that
this .is true—so tie.
So I am trying in this manner to find
that one—the only one that can make
home a paradise, a place of rest, a haven
of content, where loved ones await and
to whom I can look forward with pleasure
and anticipation. °
Who knows but what you may be
that one.
Won’t you write to me? Please do.
Any questions that you may care to
ask me will be answered to the best of
my ability, and anything that you may
care to tell me will be considered
strictly confidential. I have a small
photo of myself. May I send-it? And
yours will be greatly appreciated. Do
send it.
Again—please write. You shall never
have any cause to regret it. Use the
enclosed envelope and tell me lots about
yourself. Please do.
Very anxiously awaiting yours, I am
most sincerely,
C. O. PIERSON,
Box 277, Clarksburg, W. Virginia.
P. S—My full name is Cornelius Orvin
Pierson—‘“Connie” for short.
The letter sounded sincere. Mrs.
Eicher answered it and sent her photo.
POWERS,
Harry, white, hanged W,
= By JOHN WICKI
A THOUSAND MILES apart
ae
—one in North Uxbridge,
Massachusetts, the other in
Park Ridge, a Chicago sub-
urb—two women were radiant in the
glow of new-found love: Mrs. Asta
Buick Eicher, widow, mother of six
children, three of whom were dead, of .
Park Ridge; and Mrs. Dorothy A. Press-
ler Lemke, divorcee, of North Uxbridge.
Both women were happy for they
were to be married soon.
Mrs. Lemke, in late years a woman’s
companion, was of the romantic type.
She had married her first husband after
a correspondence courtship that had its
inception through a matrimonial agency,
and they had been happy for a few
years. There followed several years of
unhappiness culminating in a divorce.
Her romantic nature prompted her to
try once more in the field of correspon-
dence courtship for a mate, and soon
the agencies to which she had sent her
name were forwarding to her, mail that
came from many parts of the United
States. It was to the writers who ap-
peared serious in their intentions that
4
the captivating fifty-year-old divorcee
gave her attention.
Mrs. Eicher, the other woman in this
case, was of an artistic temperament
which led her to music and painting.
She was around forty-five, the type of
woman who might be called motherly,
dark, with brown eyes, and about five
feet, six inches in height.
Two of her living children were girls:
Greta, fourteen, and Annabel, nine.
Harry, the son, was twelve.
The father, a silversmith, had died.
He left his widow with the twelve-
thousand-dollar home she now occupied,
the three children, and a modest income.
The widow occupied herself with
rearing the children, but eventually
loneliness crept into the home. Few men
were ever seen at the house, aside from
a boarder, Charles O’Boyle.
Then, early in June, while looking
over a newspaper, her eyes fell upon an
advertisement which read: Lonely?
Then write the American Friendship
Society, Detroit, Michigan.
The address was that of a matrimonial
agency—one: of the -““exchanges” where
"Quiet Dell” was a peaceful town until a smart police
official wondered about a post-office box number—
then started searching for the missing widow and her
children, and the reason behind her sudden departure
Wpspek Detect V6 DEcEMbEL, 1947
Va, (Harrison) 3-18-1932,
lonely hearts frequently find solace
through letters from others who simi-
larly seek happiness in correspondence
with persons they have never seen.
Mrs. Eicher considered for a minute.
“Why not?” she thought, and forthwith
wrote a letter. It was a letter that gave
her address, a brief description of her-
self, saying she would be glad to corre-
spond with persons who might have
mutual interests.
The response was generous. Interest-
edly, Mrs. Eicher ran over the letters.
One from Clarksburg, West Virginia,
caught her special attention. It read as
follows:
My dear unknown Friend:
Your description given me by the A.
F. Society would suit so very nice—
hence the reason that I am writing these
few lines, hoping they may be welcome.
My age is forty-two; height sixty-
seven inches; have clear, blue eyes,
medium dark hair and weigh 175 pounds.
As civil engineer, I have an income
of $400 per month, but in addition, I
have a much larger income from oil
Trap door of chamber of horrors
with a rope still dangling, and
three of the characters in mys-
tery: Mrs. Dorothy Lemke (upper
right); ‘Mail-Order Bluebeard"
(lower left); Mrs. Asta Eicher,
the mother of three small chil-
dren, pictured at the lower right
ee
“200e?
Finally, the letters brought to light
questioned and cleared.
a white-haired, distinguished
the strangest suspect of all...
looking doctor of sixty years. ;
Henry Campbell, highly respected in his community of New
Brunswick, New Jersey, was the author of several highly tech-
nical books, owned his own home and had always—as far as
his neighbors knew—led an exemplary life. But the postal
inspectors and police, suspicions aroused by letters in the doc-
tor’s hand-writing to the murdered woman, delved into his past.
HEIR findings stand today as a case history of one of the
most fiendish murderers the world has ever known. As a
comparatively young man, the distinguished doctor had been
arrested in California for forgery. He was quickly sentenced
on this charge. But only a short period of his full term had
been served when a kindly, but not very wise, parole board
decided to give him another chance. Desiring to place as much
distance as possible between himself and the scene of his abortive
criminal career, the doctor came on to New York. Here he took
up the study of demonology. One of the fascinating sections of
this science of Satan deals with the eating of human flesh and
the drinking of human blood.
But even as you and I, the doctor was faced with the necessity
of earning a living while pursuing his latest interest. How he
managed it, investigators were unable to discover, but he got
himself a job in an insane asylum. This undoubtedly comple-
mented his studies nicely. It apparently did not bring Campbell
enough revenue. Or perhaps it seemed too honest a means of
making money. At any rate, it was just two years later that
Campbell was arrested for the second time in his nefarious
career.
This time, the charge was dope peddling. A number of the
inmates of the asylum which employed the doctor had been
placed in the institution by friends and relatives who hoped to
cure them of their craving for morphine and cocaine. Possibly
the good doctor could not bear to see the suffering of these un-
fortunates as they were deprived of their “shots.” So he had
been supplying them with the drugs at, of course, a stiff price.
Again the doctor was tried and convicted and this time the
court ruled that his home should be famous Sing Sing prison.
A strange sidelight which gave the investigators food for
thought occurred at this period in Campbell's life. Just before
his arrest, a number of women had been found in various parts
of the city, murdeted in a most mysterious and horrible fashion.
32
MANACLED |
Harry Powers, in shirt sleeves, mnnidiled to Sheriff
Grimm after murder confession, at left,
In every case, their hearts had practically bhen, ripped from
their bodies. The perpetrator of these ghastly trimes was never
apprehended. But the killings ceased saved Campbell’s
arrest.
It must have been, police decided as thkir| investigation
progressed, immediately after his release from Sing Sing that
Doctor Henry Campbell became acquainted with the Mail-
Order Cupid. For when long hours of erin had finally
pierced his shell of complacency—after his arrest on suspicion
of the murder of Mrs, Mildred Mowry—he adnlitted in his con-
fession that he had been carrying on his love-letter writing
activities for some forty years. He couldn’t remember, he said,
how many women he had married after social correspotidence
club introductions, but he did concede that there were “quite
a few.” Virtually all of these had mysteriously disappeared.
With an air of being tired of it all, he told police how he
had contacted Mrs. Mowry through one of the love-and-mar-
riage-by-mail bureaus and after marrying her had killed her
for the $4,000, which she had brought to him.
His arrest and past record brought officials trom six other
states to his trial, some months later. They waited stolidly in
the courtroom, ready to take the fiendish killer to their own
localities to stand trial for murders they stispected he had
committed there, in the event the Jersey jury should give heed
to his attorney's insanity plea. But the trial ended in a quick
conviction of murder in the first degree. Doctor Henry Camp-
bell, whom the Mail-Order Cupid had served faithfully for forty
years, died in the electric chair on April 17, 1930.
NOTHER letter-writing Lothario, for whom the Mail-Order
Cupid performed for eleven long years was Harry Powers.
In Quiet Dell, a little suburb outside Clarksburg, West Virginia,
Powers led a placid existence with a wife he had won through
the mails. While she worked in a small store in the village,
Powers spent his time pottering around their unpretentious
farm and romancing via rural delivery with lonely women all
over the country.
One of the women, with whom he had corresponded was Mrs.
Asta Buick Eicher, a widow of Park Ridge, Illinois. Mrs.
Eicher’s husband had died several years earlier, leaving her
with three small children. Loneliness overcame her and she
wrote the American Friendship Society in Detroit. Among
the many letters she received from males desiring to marry her,
those of one Connie Pierson stood out. Pierson, for one thing,
FIENDISH KILLER
Powers, above, reclines in jail while mob
howls, He killed widow and three children.
was a much more ardent wooer than any
of his competitors, In a period of less than
six months, he wrote the lonely widow
fifty-four letters, each more loving and
passionate than the one before.
Finally she decided to go to Quiet Dell
to marry this man, who seemed to spend
his every waking minute writing her love
letters. She told her friends and neighbors
that she was going away to marry an old
friend. She took her three children with
her. But when several months passed and
they had not heard from her, her friends
became alarmed and notified the police.
Again tortuous deadly-dull routine led
to a love-and-marriage-by-mail bureau.
This time the American Friendship So-
ciety. And more hard work narrowed a
list of suspects down to one:—Connie
Pierson of Quiet Dell. Connie’s real name,
they learned, was Harry Powers. They
called on him at his home, one evening,
and asked what he knew of Mrs. Eicher.
Powers stared at them, unperturbedly,
through his thick-lensed glasses. His fat face betrayed him not
at all. He not only did not know anything about Mrs. Ejicher's
whereabouts, but he had never even heard of the woman. The
investigators decided, however, to have a look around.
The look resulted in the discovery of a quantity of silver-
ware, clothing and other possessions which were identified as
belonging to Mrs, Eicher and her three children. Encouraged
by their find the investigators extended their search to the
grounds adjoining the Powers farm.
It was while they were digging in the swampy ground beneath
a solid concrete garage, which Powers had built, that they came
upon gruesome discoveries. Covered by slime and muck and
the slithering things which infest such earth the bodies of a
woman and three children were discovered, What sickeningly
little was left of them was enough to identify them as the missing
Park Ridge widow and her three children two girls, nine and
fourteen years of age, and a little boy of twelve.
Other women, too, who had contacted prospective husbands
through love-and-marriage-by-mail bureaus were still unfound
VICTIM
Mrs. Dorothy Pressler
Lemke, fifth known victim
of the wholesale killing
fiend, Harry Powers. West
Virginians were shocked,
DEATH TRENCH
The charnel trench on
Harry Powers’ murder
farm, below. Workers
dug from the death
garage after first four
victims were discovered.
and as is usual, the investigators made a further search around
the Powers grounds to see whether any of these had met fates
similar to Mrs. Eicher,
And after less than an hour of digging they did come upon
another woman’s body. This was identified as Mrs. Dorothy
Pressler Lemke. A check-back on Mrs. Lemke’s past revealed
the startling fact that Harry Powers was the second husband
to whom she had been introduced by the Mail-Order Cupid.
Her first one, she had learned (after living with him for ten
years) had been married once before in Germany. For this
reason she had left him and with the blind faith of the lovelorn
had attempted to find a less bigamous mate again through the
love-and-marriage-by-mail clubs. She found Powers, West
Virginia’s most infamous Bluebeard.
But the most horrible facts in the Powers case did not come
to light until days after the discoveries of the unfortunate vic-
tims’ bodies. Medical examination of the corpses brought out
the revolting information that after murdering his mail-order
brides, Powers used their dead bodies to satisfy unmentionable
33
"HARDBOILED"
“L guess | look hardboiled, but I'm not,” Joseph Meluch
wrote to one of his mail-order sweethearts, sending picture.
and strangely perverted sex desires. A quick trial brought
Powers to the same end as his New Jersey predecessor.
HE Mail-Order Cupid was undoubtedly proud of the
achievements of Harry Powers and Henry Campbell. But
these two murder monsters did not handle their affairs of mar-
riage and murder with the businesslike efficiency, the mass-
destruction proficiency of Dr. Henry Holmes of Chicago.
Holmes lived in a huge house on the Windy City’s outskirts.
He chose the names of lonely women from love-and-marriage-
by-mail bureaus’ lists and co.ducted romantic correspondence
with them until they agreed to marry him. Shortly after the wed-
ding he insured them for as much money as he could without
arousing suspicion. Somehow, they mysteriously disappeared.
Before their disappearances the doctor’s wives usually won-
dered about several features of the big house. One was a room,
completely fitted with all manner of surgical instruments, which
the doctor never seemed to utilize. Another was a tremendous
vat, for which there seemed to be no use. A third feature was
the peculiar design of the furnace in the basement.
When Chicago police investigated the disappearance of one
of the doctor’s wives, they learned the purpose of the surgical
instruments, the yat and the furnace. The first, the doctor used
to cut up his wives, after he had murdered them. The second, he
filled with acid to destroy their dismembered skin and bones.
And the third he used to burn those portions of their cadavers
which the acid would not dissolve.
A search revealed other interesting facts about the manner
in which he conducted his business of marriage and murder. A
voluminous file was heavy with carbon copies of all the love
letters he had written to the women he later murdered. Anda
check-up with insurance companies showed that under numerous
aliases, the doctor had collected almost $100,000 in insurance
on his wives.
34
i Motel Owners
i Fareorettee ¢°) +
vt
ALL anxious {¢ take ser
t and for your appre/as 7 am onal
wing 6 af the aeny. sniprestiog ee
ledtes that came with om lately we
ne ay ek ‘
’ i ; {2
You know, #0 sary people do not nave the opportunity of gesting Ae
the right kind of people. Sone live in emai} toma where thers {9 ne ote, 4
that particularly appeals le them; others again, live in large h hapbrat 1 Deane
where it ip even sore Giffioult to make friends, becaves during the days 00 oiy
Uhey are at werk, havirg no oppartunity to make wogial Friends, of wheat piel
¥ evening comes, they stay at hete, ‘betaise it te met pieagant so se
ANE places alone. Then there are still others whe bave a lot of friends
<3 SN Dut not ONE sacng them would they choose fer a Life partuer
‘we parprising #hat wonderfal benef ite oy muher+ receive, many 7)
+ of our fact amare Sh %wo to three seeks tice” Trot 7 heye Jone o*
fot others, of course. ‘waked oe very tapoy, fas chat tH elit what 7 ae
interested (0, right now, I am inrerested In “YOOs and “WARRIAGE’ te
A> going te de the turning petnt ony “TOUR™ itfs. whet fe ue aosng Se meat
te gou” A BRIGHT aot PHOBPEROUS Cut.tw Bitn a SONSENLAL LADY enon! pou
selected frow tho .sande< of others, of x GUUBTFUL futufe et erat
“CHANCE” way Offer > i Bo |
. + ered Al tnees Os
Fitnie Tran te BOCK Lil
BANS
Orndemen. 2
* es gave cieeiedel
ENTLY ALEC cen
LOVE BY MAIL
Typical advertising circular, written in saccharine terms.
Marrjage with wealth was hope held out... not death.
After hours of grilling following his arrest, Holmes admitted
that he must have married and murdered at least 40 women,
whom he had found through the love-and-marriage-by-mail
: bureaus. The hangman’s noose brought the doctor’s lucrative
business to an end.
T HE Mail-Order Cupid does not work for men, exclusively.
If an ambitious woman wishes to employ him, he will serve
her just as faithfully a she serves his male murder-maniacs.
Such a woman was Belle Gunness. Belle owned a little farm
in LaPorte, Indiana. She was not a very sociable woman, speak-
' ing very little to any of her neighbors. The Gunness farm-
house burst into flames one night and the neighbors rushed to
the blaze to see whether they could help.
No one saw Belle Gunness leave the house, so they feared
that she had been caught in the roaring inferno. When the
last smouldering flame died out, when only the charred ruins of
the frame house remained, they began a search for Belle’s body.
They found a corpse, but it was that of a man!
The police decided to investigate, They dug in Belle Gunness’
garden and unearthed the gruesome remains of nineteen more
men. Of Belle, herself, they found no trace. Eventually they
succeeded in identifying three of the corpses.
Further investigation led the officers to several social cor-
tespondence clubs with whom these men had registered. Belle,
the police realized after months of investigation, was just an-
other of the cold-blooded killers who picked her victims from the
lists the mail-order marriage bureaus supplied her. She evi-
dently chose lonely men with several thousand dollars saved up,
and holding out her farm-house as a lure, married them and
murdered them for their money. In the case of this widow
from Indiana, it can be reasonably assumed that she is some-
where, still marrying, robbing and planting the dead bodies of
her mail-order husbands in her garden.
-
Before going on to the exploits of others who loved, married
and murdered by mail, it may be well to see just how the social
correspondence clubs work and how it is possible for scheming
killers to line up their victims through these clubs.
Mr. Club Operator inserts a small advertisement or two. A
perusal of only a few of these advertisements will indicate how
tempting they must appear to a young or not-so-young lady or
gentleman with romantic ideas and an inferiority complex about
personally carrying them out.
Says one of the mail-order love peddlers:
“SWEETHEART ASSURED EVERY MAN BY
AMERICA’S LEADING CORRESPONDENCE CLUB.
STARTLING OFFER SENT FREE, ENCLOSE STAMP.”
And another:
“LONELY HEARTS—HAPPINESS AWAITS YOU!
MEET YOUR ‘IDEAL MATE’ THRU FIDELITY. LOVE-
HUNGRY MEN AND WOMEN EVERYWHERE CRAVE
WEDDED COMPANIONSHIP. (MANY WEALTHY.)
REMARKABLY EFFICIENT PLAN. DISTINCTIVE
INDIVIDUALIZED SERVICE. PARTICULARS, SPECI-
MEN, DESCRIPTIONS (SEALED). WRITE TODAY.”
A third suggests:
“CHASE THOSE LONELY HOURS AWAY! I’VE
THE VERY PAL FOR YOU, LONESOME LIKE YOUR-
SELF. WRITE TODAY. YOU’LL BE GLAD. FREE
PARTICULARS, CONFIDENTIAL INTERESTING DE-
SCRIPTIONS. ATTRACTIVE MEMBERS EVERY-
WHERE (MANY WEALTHY).”
Still another states boldly:
“MARRY RICH. SEND 10c FOR PHOTOS AND P. O.
ADDRESSES OF RICH AND BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
WHO WISH TO MARRY.”
And here is a specialist in the field:
“LATIN BEAUTIES. MANY WEALTHY. WISHING
U. S. CORRESPONDENTS. SEALED PARTICULARS
FREE. WRITE TODAY.”
BURIED
Above, Sheriff Brower and
Deputy McEwen where
money and letters of Mrs.
Catherine Clark were
found. Inset, Archie ir
Moock, mail-order killer. Ree
TRUSTING
Mrs. Catherine Clark,
right, took her $2,000
en she went to meet her
husband-to-be. He killed
her for it, in cold blood.
So WITH the feeling that these helpful little advertisements
are the answer to their prayers for someone to love, the
lonely souls sit down and “write today” for the “sealed par-
ticulars.”
Here is Millie Luvsick, for instance, dashing off a pleading
note to one of the commercial Cupids.
Very promptly she receives a plain envelope with a post-office
box number return address. The envelope is crammed with
mimeographed circulars, pamphlets and a friendly letter.
Luridly, glowingly, this pile of literature paints a picture of
the sheer joys of loving and being loved, the ultra-super ecstasy
of married life.
The letter goes on to explain that [Continued on page 106]
35
pS aite -s
enphoe
thought of quitting would ever enter her
head. Kay Rossi thought she could
leave. She saved her money, got a job.
There was no “man” to take her earnings,
Nick’s spy system got him this informa-
tion. Three weeks in a row, on payday,
she was stuck-up and robbed. The gun-
man always got her five minutes after she
was paid off. Finally she told the Boss,
“O. K., you win. T'll stick.” She was
never held up again.
The Boss’ headquarters were in the
Harlem joint where I met Charlie and in
a restaurant in the heart of the Times
Square district. Usually he would be
seen seated at a table studying a chart
representing his houses, jumping up for
the phone to route the girls from house to
house.
He used the old vaudeville system for
booking. A girl would spend a week at
Mother's, then be shifted to Sadie, the
Chink, to Jennie, the Factory, Pop’s,
Jimmy’s, Birdie’s, Rose Cohen’s, and so
on down the list of his joints. It would
be months before a girl went the rounds
—then he’d start her over again—that is,
if she was still a good earner,
This class of worker never left his
employ—unless it was feet first.
With the Boss’ protecting hand taken
away I didn’t stay in business long.
I was arrested a couple of times but man-
aged to win acquittals. Then on May 19,
while I was operating out of a house on
Lenox avenue I had a caller. He paid me
E-prue
Millie need no longer starve her soul,
deprive her heart of these blessings. For
a small registration and membership fee
a long list of names and addresses of de-
sirable men (many wealthy) will be sent
her. All of these men are seeking com-
panions, whom they can Jove, honor and
obey forever and ever. The registration
and membership fee ranges from $1 to
$25, the average being about $5. The
letter also suggests that Millie use the
bureau's special, completely private service.
A slight additional charge of from $1 to
$3 is made for this service.
But this is not the only expense entailed
in finding the mate through the mails. As
often as not Millie will fail to discover the
man of her dreams in the first batch of
names sent her. The club’s addition of
Millie’s own name to its list for gentle-
men will also prove disappointing.
So Miss Luvsick writes Mr. Club
Operator that she is having little success
and asks for further assistance. And she
gets it! The club operator, in another form
letter, writes that he will gladly send her
name, address and description to a second,
select list of gentlemen. There will, of
course, be an extra, though nominal
charge to cover printing and mailing. This
“nominal” charge will be from $3 to $10.
In this second helpful form fetter, Mr,
Operator also suggests that Millie may
find it easier to attract a letter from her
“Prince Charming” if she will permit the
love bureau to enclose a lovely photo-
graph of herself with her description,
name and address. Millie sends an origi-
nal photograph—-very often that of some
famous movie star, because she fears her
own is not enchanting enough--and fron
106
in advance, then placed me under arrest.
He was a plainclothes detective. I was
taken to the night court. I pleaded not
guilty to the charge. The judge held me
in high bail and I was removed to the
Women’s House of Detention to await
trial. In jail I met up with Millie Davis.
She also knew what it meant to go
against the Boss’ wishes.
HIS would have been the end of my
story only it so happened that the City
of New York began its first real vice in-
vestigation. Assistant District Attorney
Charles Pilatsky stepped into the picture.
It was the beginning of the first honest
vice investigation in the city. Although
the G-men had been trying to nab Nick
Montana for ten years it took a single
detective working under Pilatsky to
smash the Boss’ grip on the vice industry.
He was Detective Hugo Harris.
I guess the rest is newspaper history.
Millie and I were the people’s case. Our
testimony convicted Nick Montana. And
Judge Cornelius Collins sentenced the
Boss to twenty-five years at Sing Sing.
In passing sentence Judge Collins said,
“The verdict of the jury is a triumph of
justice. In my opinion Montana was
without a doubt the worst malefactor of
that type who has ever come into this
court.”
Millie and I were released.
I went back to Chicago, became a
waitress and managed to struggle along.
M ail-Order Bluebeards 1 |
[Continued from page 35} s A
it the love bureau makes duplicate prints.
For this she pays from $5 to $15 per dozen
prints. Millie, generally, does not know
that glossy prints from original photo-
graphs can be made for as little as one
dollar per dozen,
Perhaps, after spending from $25 to
$50 Millie will find a considerate, loving
and wealthy husband. PERHAPS!
There is always the chance however that
she will be dealing with a social corres-
pondence club owner, who is himself a
swindler. In such a case, she can con-
sider herself fortunate if the operator
writing love-letters to her, personally,
under various names and from different
parts of the country, does not induce her
to invest her life savings in some phoney
stock, a bogus silver mine, an invaluable
diamond ring (purchased in a five and ten
cent store) or something equally worth-
less.
The practice of having love letters sent
from numerous, far-flung sections of the
country to a lonely soul in search of a
mate is one resorted to by some club
operators who are not out-and-out
swindlers, but who do not have a large
enough genuine membership list to make
an impressive showing and an alluring
enough “come-on” for additional ex-
penditures. Such clubs employ ayents
all over the United States, who re-mail
letters from their territories for the oper-
ators at a salary of a dollar for each
» hundred letters.
The frequency with which the word
“wealthy” appears in the descriptions
of social correspondence club patrons in
another puzzling factor to the anithated
It tends to erente the dinpresaion that oll
Montana appealed the verdict and the
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
gave him a new trial. I didn’t know about
this. It meant that the district attorney
would have to try him all over again.
No one knew where I was. District
Attorney William Copeland Dodge took
the case out of the capable hands of
Pilatsky. Using the excuse that he
couldn't find me he permitted Nick Mon-
tana to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.
This meant that Nick would have to serve
from thirty days to three years for the
crime.
In giving this plea District Attorney
Dodge said, “The people will get a
bargain.” .
The New York Post was incensed that
Nick should get off so easily. They put
their machinery in operation and in six
days found me.
What a story that made! I rode into
the city with headlines in every paper
announcing my arrival,
District Attorney Dodge intimated that
I didn’t want to be found. That wasn't
true. I was ready to risk my life to
testify against Montana.
You've read the rest of the story in the
newspapers. |
I’m back in the West now. | I've paid
my debt to society. I’ve got a legitimate
job and I’m trying to live down my past.
Most of my kind never get a second
chance. I've got it. And I’m going to
make good. |
. i
the wealthy people in America use the
services of the commercial Cupids. But
the case of the New Hope Matrimonial
Society will serve to explain this. The
operators of this love and marriage bu-
reau, located in New York City, were ar-
rested by the police and hailed into court.
Members names were sold individually,
according to the amount of money they
had. Prices for a single name ranged
from $5 for a fairly wealthy person’s
name, to $25 for the name of one who
was practically a millionaire.
Many hopefuls who purchased such
names later discovered that theiamounts
Stated were greatly exaggerated. After
a long, drawn-out court battle—during
which it was proved that the correspond-
ence club urged their members to exag-
gerate in giving their financial worth—
the New Hope Matrimonial Society was
forced out of business. During the in-
vestigation, police found files showing
that some 10,000 subscribers had use d the
facilities of the New Hope marriage
bureau to conduct their love-by-letter
campaigns.
Still, Millie might find a true spouse
in her mail-box one fine morning. ‘There
is no doubt that a number of sen and
women have married after mailorder roe
mances and that of — a = pere
centaye are happy and contented.
Netther han there be any doubt that
some of the social correspondence clubs
are run legitimately and that the operators
of these endeavor to ee a real social
erviee at a reasonable price,
. Nut even the beat of the cluba have no
control aver the type of people wha 84
nyo to their advertiscnents, Suppo
Millie had received a letter from or
written to any one of the vicious swin-
dlers, chislers or racketeers who have
victimized countless women just like her.
Or suppose she had begun a correspon-
dence courtship with one of the fiendish
murderers, who have splashed the blood
of hundreds of lonely women over the
pages of mail-order marriage bureau his-
tory. .
Suppose she had begun a mail-order
romance with James Murphy. Mrs.
Catherine Clark, attractive divorcee of
Boston, Massachusetts, did. Mrs. Clark
had divorced her first husband in 1923,
Five years later, in the spring, she began
to get lonesome. She wrote to a social
correspondence club. Her description of
herself was attractive. “I am,” it read,
“35, 5'5”, 165, light brown hair, blue eyes,
high school education, excellent charac-
ter, am broadminded in regard to religion,
American. Have $2,000 and will inherit
”
,
One letter in the flood of mail Mrs
Clark soon received impressed her great-
ly. The man, who signed his name, James
Murphy, was also thirty-five and would
soon inherit $100,000. Mrs. Clark an-
swered the letter and the mail-order ro-
mance was under way. Before many more
letters had been exchanged it became
apparent to both Mrs. Clark and Mr.
Murphy that they must have been meant
for each other. At Murphy’s suggestion,
Mrs, Clark drew her life savings from
the bank, sold her small rug business in
Boston, and started for Spokane to meet.
her letter-writing lover.
A very nice, middle-aged man met her
at the Spokane station. He introduced
himself as Archie Moock. His friend,
Jimmy Murphy, he said, was ill and had
asked him to pick up Mrs. Clark. Moock
took the divorcee to his home in Spokane.
He introduced her to Mrs. Moock and
his four little children. Mrs. Clark was
tired after her long journey and both Mr.
and Mrs. Moock invited her to spend the
night and the next day with them. She
needed a rest, they insisted, and Mr.
Moock would be glad to take her to Jim
Murphy the following evening. The Bos-
ton divorcee accepted the kind invitation
and spent a very pleasant evening with
the Moocks. The next night she set out
with Archie Moock in his car. She could
hardly wait to see her prespective hus-
band. -
O*’ TIIE morning of September 21,
1928, Moock returned to his home and
jold his wife that the lady from Boston had
arrived safely at the home of his friend,
Murphy. All Spokane, however, was
shocked about a week later, when the
butchered. body of a woman was found
about twenty miles from Spokane. The
body was identified as Mrs. Catherine
Clark of Boston, “A purse, with the lintnge
Spped ont, was found near the body.
Spokane police traced the activities of the
murdered divorcee to a social correspon-
dence club and postal inspectors joined
them in the hunt for her murderer. ‘The
frail led to Arehie Moor k, who told the
OMeers phere Jitniny Mittphy. With off
the difornation be ave therm, lewever,
Whey were «till imable to find Murphy
hey did fearn that there was no osuel
Person, that Moock himself had written
to Mrs, Clark under the name of Murphy
and had murdered her for the $3,000 she
had sewed in her purse. ‘Pwo vears Inter,
On September 1, 140, Avehie Mach
wire Nanved for the oeoder of the feyve
Worn Merten diet ene
Joseph Metiety and Grrethy
blowers
were another young couple who found
each other with the aid of a mail-order
love club. Six weeks after their marriage,
Dorothy was found dead in the bedroom
of the Meluch home in Lorain, Ohio, her
head bashed in by a gun butt. Joseph
Meluch gave himself up in St. Louis some
time later, and was tried on a charge of
second degree murder. He hinted that his
mail-order bride had been sex-mad, in-
sanely jealous and a reefer (marihuana)
addict. But on October 11, 1935, the jury
found him guilty of manslaughter and
sentenced him to twenty years in prison.
THE Mail-Order Cupid does not work
in America alone. His is an interna-
tional job, One of his most outstanding
employers was wild-eyed, bearded Henry
Landru of Paris, France. Landru mar-
ried and murdered over three hundred
women, robbing them of what little jewels
and money they had. He was finally cap-
tured and beheaded on the guillotine.
Also in France, on Brittany’s bleak
coast, the Mail-Order Cupid introduced
a district attorney’s son to a little peasant
girl. Michel Henriot, son of Prosecutor
Rene Henriot, married Georgette Deglave
after a whirlwind post-office romance. In
May, 1934, the famous Surete Nationale
was summoned to the Henriot farmhouse,
where they found Georgette dead, with
her head battered by cruel blows from a
poker and a rifle bullet hole through her
heart. After a frantic search for a non-
existent tramp, whom her husband
claimed had been prowling in the neigh-
borhood, the French officers arrested the
husband for his wife’s murder.
Innumerable lesser crimes than murder
have been laid at the Mail-Order Cupid’s
door by the world’s police forces. There
Sign up for a reading adventure.
Join the crew of #rue subscribers
for an all-year voyage with
America’s most sensational maga-
zine. Every month when the good
ship #rue Jands in your mailbox,
there’s a cargo of exciting fact
articles and spectacular picture
pages aboard. Turn to page 122
for complete details.
is the recent case, for instance, of Samucl
Frank, correspondence Casanova de luxe.
Thirteen hundred odd women wrote
Frank expressing their interest in be-
coming Mrs. Frank, and “1,300 odd” is no
exaggeration. One of the ladies was 103
years old. Another had just celebrated
her eleventh birthday. This latter young
lady’s letter contained the written con-
sent of her parents to the marriage.
Of course, none of the hushand-seeking:
females knew that Frank had a wife—his
sccond—and five children. He had neg-
lected to mention these details, But he
answered the letters of all the 1,300
women who wrote hint In tie for
peply te then, tee teeter a qpaeetionn
tretee, whiely giade qemceroups Pepaiptes a
TOTO apepentineee, rele pereennud bite
their wealth fo the tindreds who an
swered his letter and questionnaire, Prank
sent another appealing form fetter It
began: “My dearest Priend and babe
nid wet oom fo ceny that de tied deret
Cheebed rpc dlecawercd (hat tbe fered
pyrene Hiveh beens Peet te the treet the
could cory qereuthy copper dete mw deena ea
40) freee dab Heapeod Prieta wid pad
The purpose of this loan, of course, was
to enable him to join her so that he could
marry her.
Government postal inspectors caught
up with Frank, when Mrs, Louise Ken-
nedy, who had sent him not $30 but $130,
went to Frank’s Oakland hotel room and
found him there with another woman.
The two women, after a brief but inter-
esting discussion, discovered that Samuel
had been working the same gag on both
of them.
When Postal Inspector Robert Tracy
of Oakland and Oakland police opened
the letter-writing Lothario’s trunks after
his arrest, they found scores of women’s
pictures, mementos and souvenirs. There
were even dainty intimate items of wear-
ing apparel, which Frank readily identi-
fied for the officers. Late in October,
1936, after pleading guilty to a charge
of using the mails to defraud, Frank was
sentenced by Judge A. F. St. Sure in San
Francisco to five years in prison.
It may be well to introduce here,
Samuel Frank’s feminine counterpart.
The young lady in question has never
been apprehended. “Bebe Crook” will
serve as a name for her, as well as any
other, for she has used so many names
during her career in chiseling that prob-
ably even she does not remember half of
them nor know her real name. Bebe con-
tacts simultaneously a score of hopeful
males who have registered with various
social correspondence clubs. She tells
them she is beautiful, lovable and ex-
tremely wealthy and after exchanging
a few intimacies via the written word she
agrees to marry them—all of them! She
asks each one to send her the fare from
her home to his, explaining that her own
ready cash is tied up in investments at
the moment. And usually Bebe chooses
men who live far enough away for her to
make the railroad fare quite a sizable sum.
When she has fleeced as many of the score
as possible, Bebe moves on to another
address, changes her name and begins all
over again with a new list of suckers. She
has been able to live in grandiose apart-
ments, wear the best clothes and have
practically everything her heart desires
for many years.
URVEYS made in various parts of the
country and conducted by such relia-
ble crime-busting agencies as Chicago’s
famed Committee of Fifteen, show that
there are close to 400 love and marriage
correspondence clubs in the United
States.
The Committee of Fifteen found that
100,000 letters from social correspondence
club customers leave Chicago each year.
In Los Angeles more than 80,000 men
and women carry on mail-order romances.
But perhaps the most striking indica-
tion of the number of people appealing to
Cupid elubs for love counsel can be de-
rived from the actual membership of a
few of the clubs. The Evan Moore club
in Jacksonville, Mlorida, boasts a clientele
of come 30,000 Jonely couls, Tn New York
City, Mr. Andrew Vicinile yvotdes the
deotiniee of the Mationoal Sweehit Megieter
for ferenty fie yet Me Vhedieiter ta
Lott wo tueoiberediip ef PS 000 fetter weit
juny weetheurte fier de than 14,000
love Hitupry gen qed women came te
Mix. Stoll for aesistanee, Alb in all,
vations national cheekoupe have shown
that fron TA00.000) to 2,000,0000 people
nee food eed pee biee enre aorother bey
teal Agel ttiet Ofer te Potts preetad
tore oerpeepe detbeee cued yee cree fen nie
a tall Lattice fe tres force Peveedy gerade
fee Pest Veet ay Ve tects weed yer open
17
ed
-,
POWERS
HE WAS A RESPECTED BUSINESS MAN, APPARENTLY
HAPPILY MARRIED, UNTIL SUDDENLY A RELATIVE
STARTED TO SEARCH FOR A MISSING WOMAN
LVIBEARIS
lasr
TIOMENMO0N
REMARKABLE murders often prospective husband, had written he
begin in undistinguished ways, was coming for her on June 25th,
sometimes in a fashion almost hum- Here it was the 28rd already and
drum. When, for instance, Fate she had her house to clean, clothes
first singled out a middle-aged to get together and the children to
4 Y widow named Asta Eicher to be- think of, not to mention a date at
Mrs. Eicher and one of her three children, who with their mother come a victim in one of the most the beauty parlor, ’
Mrs. Elcher and one of her three children who, with their mother, shocking crimes of the last decade, As for the children, Asta had an
the unsuspecting woman was con- idea. Maybe Liz Abernathy would
cerned only with ordinary domestic come over and take care of Grethe,
problems. A man calling himself Annabelle and little Harry while
Cornelius Pierson, who was her
she was away. Liz’s home in In-
‘Crowds gathering around the garage when news was flashed that bodies had been discovered buried in a ditch outside,
24
FEDERAL CRIMES DETECTIVE, JUNE, 1948
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HOUSE OF SPHINK
one during the strenuous hours of vigil
made a suspicious move to, or away
. from, the house.
Toward noon of the following day,
August 27th, a light sports roadster
turned in at Quincy Street, and slowed
to a stop. A short, heavy-set man
wearing horn-rimmed glasses got out,
looked around as he slammed the
door shut, and quickly started to the
house. Two men who were engaged in
casual conversation suddenly broke off
and in a flash fell in alongside him.
“Hello, Pierson,” Chief Duckworth
greeted him quietly.
Detective Southern blocked the way
to the steps.
The short man halted, then glanced
calmly from Chief Duckworth to De-
tective Southern and speaking with a
show of annoyance said, “My name is
Powers. Harry F. Powers. This is my
home.”
“Sure, we know that,” Detective
Southern said moving a step nearer.
“Harry F. Powers alias Cornelius O.
Pierson. Got any others?”
Hemmed in by the relentless officers,
he began to lose his self-assurance. His
voice crackling with false indignation,
he shouted, “I don’t know what you're
talking about. Who are you, and what
do you want?” 7
“Never mind that,” Chief Duckworth
snapped. “We know who you are. We
want Mrs. Asta Buick Eicher of Park
Ridge, Illinois, and her children Greta,
Harry, and Annabel.” Chief Duckworth
carefully emphasized each name.
“TI don’t know them. Never heard of
them. I don’t know them any more than
this Cornelius O. Pierson you think I
am,” the short man replied furiously.
Protesting, trying to brazen it out,
still denying knowledge of the Eicher
family, Powers was hustled into a police
car and hurried off to headquarters.
There, in a routine search Chief Duck-
worth took five typical Pierson letters
from his pockets: one to a Detroit
matrimonial agency, the others address-
ed to womén in New Bern, N. C.,
Detroit, Mich., Olean, N. Y. and Bak-
erstown, Maryland, Duckworth then
notified Chief Johnson that he had his
man in custody at the Clarksburg city
jail.
Harry F. Powers was not returned to
Park Ridge. In the light of later events,
Chief Harold W. Johnson did not claim
his prisoner. As news of Powers’ arrest
in the disappearance of an entire family
spread through Clarksburg and sur-
rounding towns, an assortment _ of
strange rumors began to flood the police.
To one in particular, Chief Duckworth
and Detective Southern directed their
attention.
Some months previously Powers had
built a garage on a farm located in
Quiet Dell, a small community five
miles from Clarksburg. But he did not
store his car there. From Quiet Dell
came reports that in recent weeks a
man had been seen going back and
forth from the garage, usually at a late
hour. They varied as to his being
P.O. Box 802, Indianapolis 4, Indiana
50
alone.
Quiet Dell had long since bedded
down, midnight, August 27th, when
Chief Duckworth and Detective South-
ern focused the lights of a police car
on a small, wood frame, windowless
building. For several seconds they
studied the odd structure, then slowly,
almost measuring their steps, approach-
ed it. As they reached the door only
the gurgling of a little creek that flowed
by some seventy-five yards distant dis-
turbed the peaceful country night
sounds.
They tried the door. It was locked.
They circled the building in opposite
directions, looking for cracks in the
walls as they went. They found none.
Its construction was solid .and sturdy.
“Well, there’s only one way now,”
Chief Duckworth said to Southern
when they met again at the door.
“All right. Ready?”
They threw their combined weight
against the door in repeated effort. A
splintering crash echoed through Quiet
Dell into the nearby Blue Ridge hills as
the door finally yielded. Quickly they
stepped inside to a wall of blackness.
soon pierced by the yellow arc of their
flashlights. Fhey sniffed at a nauseating
odor of decay that momentarily sicken-
ed them, and then silently exchanged a
meaningful glance.
An old, battered trunk in the midst
of an assortment of odds and ends
circling in Chief Duckworth’s light were
the first objects they saw. Two addi-
tional trunks lined the wall. Swiftly,
Detective Southern pried them open,
and rummaged through piles of cloth-
ing, women’s and children’s, copies of
the Pierson matrimonial “ad,” bundles
of answers from women, and pieces of
jewelry. In one corner lay a heap of
bloodstained garments, Buried in the
clothing of the battered trunk was a
small box camera with a roll of exposed
film which was to play its part four
days later. So, too, were the torn pieces
of a bank receipt discovered in a trash
pile on the floor.
As the officers continued the search
with typical unhurried efficiency it was
already 1:30 a.m., August 28th. Follow-
ing a trail of irregular browned splotch-
es through the debris on the floor,
Chief Duckworth and Detective South-
ern traced them to a trap door. Through
that door they walked down a short
flight of stairs to a lower level. The
strange garage had a basement. Mutely,
they examined several small soundproof
cells built in against a wall. Overhead,
from a rafter near the door dangled an
end of rope. On the floor near the cells
lay a gas mask of the type used in World
War I, bringing them to a sharp halt
before they realized what it was. Sus-
picious-looking stains covered the floor.
At daybreak Chief Duckworth noti-
fied Sheriff W. B. Grimm, and Captain
H. M. Brown of the State Police. De-
tails of police were already digging
around the whole area of the garage
when Sheriff Grimm arrived with a
squad of convicts from the Harrison
County jail to help. Swarms of curious
onlookers rushed to Quiet Dell only to
be sent back.
POLICE FILES
_A woman's hair with charred hairpins
still in it was discovered in the ashes of
a fire recently made outside the garage.
But that was all. The digging continued.
Suddenly a low cry tensed to attention
the searchers working around the front
of the garage, and sent them scrambling
to the rear. A group huddled over a
, four-foot-deep opening in the drainage
ditch leading from the garage to the
nearby creek. A body, its burlap wrap-
pings dripping slime, was lifted to the
surface.
Northboro, Mass.” Almost simultane-
ously Chief Duckworth received a long
distance telephone call from the wom-
an’s_ brother-in-law advising him that
he had recognized a newspaper picture
of Harry F. Powers as the likeness of
a man who courted Mrs, Lemke under
the name “D. P. Lowther” of Virginia.
He told Chief Duckworth that her
relatives were ready to leave at once for
Clarksburg because they had seen the
“oe oe visited her at Northboro
i ast Ju th. The next da
Minutes later, after officials took denied: with her saying ao Bal
charge of the corpse, the men again to be married and live on his big ranch
grabbed their shovels and dug furiously in Iowa; but not before Mrs. Lemke had
around the same spot. In succession they withdrawn her money, government
unearthed three smaller bodies, each in bonds, and jewelry, the total of which
separate burlap wrappings. The last they estimated at $14,000.
body was lifted out at 5:40 P.M. The A postcard from Uniontown, Pa., and
whereabouts of Asta B. Eicher, her a letter mailed in Chicago and received
children, Greta, Harry, and Annabel, by them on August 18th were the last
was a mystery no longer. : times they had heard from Mrs. Lemke.
Quiet Dell, and Clarksburg seethed In the Chicago letter she had written
with indignation, that, although she did not marry the
man, she was planning to go on a trip
St morning, under heavy guard, around the world with him. They doubt-
Powers was rushed to the Harrison ed that she had writte
County. morgue to see the decomposed On September th, pei Hany F,
corpses of the Eicher family lined up Powers stood by sullenly in his cell at
on slabs, Powers stared quickly at the the county jail, Dorothy Pressler Lemke’s
bodies then turned away crying: My ~ relatives pointed him out as the man
God, isn’t that awful?” with whom she had left Northboro.
But even then he would admit no Powers denied that he had seen them
more than having met Mrs. Eicher at or Mrs. Lemke. ,
Park Ridge. As for the rest he kept On that very day Chief Duckworth
insisting to Chief Duckworth that he and Detective Southern received six
knew absolutely nothing because she prints developed at Quiet Dell. Three
had gone away to marry another man. were poses of Dorothy Pressler Lemke;
Back 2 his cell Powers clamored for three showed Powers, himself. ;
a minister. . - Powers still refused to talk. -
I want to set myself right with God!” tain of his business erudite one
he kept shouting. the police soon traced spoke for him
Chief Duckworth arranged for a with an accusing eloquence all their
minister to visit him. And at 4:30 P.M. own. They turned up checks to the
Harry F. Powers signed this confession: order of Dorothy Pressler Lemke on a
In the month of July, 1931, I mur- Uniontown bank, endorsed “A. R
dered Mrs. Asta B. Eicher, and her Weaver” and cashed on August 10.
three children, Harry, Greta, and Ann-- Bank employees identified Harry F,
— by using hammer and Strangula- Powers as the “A. R. Weaver” who had
n. ‘ made several visits inni
Meanwhile, under direction of Sheriff August 1. Police pene linked pa grer.
Grimm, the digging at Quiet Dell went against him just as securely as they had
on, unabated. About 6:45 p.M., August tied him to the disappearance of Asta
29th, one of the men working outside B. Eicher and her children.
the garage stopped with his shovel in Promptly, Powers again denied con-
mid-air. Fragments of burlap wrapping nection with any of the victims, and
peeped up at him through the slime. repudiated whatever confessions he had
Moments later horrified hands raised made. He called for Chief Duckworth
to the surface a fifth corpse. Examined and named “Charles Rogers” as the man
at the morgue later, it was that of a with whom Mrs, Eicher ran off, and
woman. - : said that “Cecil Johnson” took Mrs.
Led by Chief Duckworth, police Lemke somewhere. Both were of course
descended on Powers’ Quincy Street figments of his imagination. But Chief
home and found additional matrimonial Duckworth and Detective Southern took
correspondence together with 50 photo- the trouble of trying to locate them.
graphs. Not one helped him to identify
the fifth corpse. Ts one day Powers summoned a
Sheriff Grimm spurred his digging guard. “I keep seeing visions,” he
squad on to renewed effort, ordering ¢omplained.
the men to spread out over the small “I shouldn’t wonder,” the guard re-
farm on which Powers’ garage stood. Plied dryly.
He asked that special attention be given _ Powers persisted. To the visions he
an old, abandoned well, and the ruins @dded claims of impulses which he
of a little cottage on the premises, could not control. For days he kept
Piecing together the torn bank re- Pointing to his head to indicate an in-
ceipt taken from the garage, Chief jury he said he sustained while in camp
Duckworth and Detective Southern during World War I. Harrison County's
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spelled out “Dorothy Pressler Lemke, Star prisoner put on a good show, and
POLICE FILES
51
State
-w
Fo a arpenremnpianand paeetbertatn teat
PIN-UP MODEL
(Continued from page 11)
had the .22 spitting lethal lead at the
wounded girl. He kept firing and firing,
and Diane never made it to the top. One
slug smashed into her back, near the
spine. and slammed her down on the
top few stairs. Another ripped into her
at the waistline. She lay on the stairs,
half on the landing, screaming for help.
A woman who dashed out of a near-
by store at the. sound of the rapid
‘Shots, saw the beauty sprawled on the
sidewalk, one hand reaching feebly to-
ward her.
“Help me,” the girl cried. “Help me.”
Fearing the gunman, the woman
dashed back inside and telephoned the
police.
Combe himself had fled up the stairs
and down the street, ducking into a
tavern. He asked the bartender if he
could use the -telephone, then put
through a call to the police.
“I just shot a girl,” he told the police
telephone operator. “But don't tell my
mother.”
The officer engaged Combe in con-
versation, while a tracer was placed
on the call. Learning the man was
talking from a tavern, the police con-
tacted the bartender of the place, using
another telephone which was listed for
the establishment. The bartender con-
firmed that a young man was still in
a phone booth talking to someone. Of-
ficers sped to the tavern, entering while
Combe was still talking to the police
Operator. He saw them coming and
greeted them with: “I’m the one who
shot her.”
Other officers and ambulance medics
had sped to the IND subway entrance
at 44th Strect and physicians were al-
ready using emergency equipment to
save the girl's life. A bystander, on his
way to work, had been nicked by a
slug and was taken to the hospital for
treatment of his minor wound. Diane
SADIST’S DEN OF BODIES
(Continued from page 29)
“Pierson was still storing furniture
when I got there. He told me Mrs.
Eicher was moving her family to Den-
ver, and had sold him the house and
furniture. He showed me a deed for
the house, and a bill of sale for the
furniture which looked okay. His story
about the Eichers didn’t satisfy me, but
I had nothing to hold him on. I asked
him to come around to the police sta-
tion before he left town. He skipped
without seeing me.
“As soon as I got word, I broke into
the Eicher house and found more
furniture ready to be moved out. I also
found a packet of letters hidden away
in the garage, Pierson to Mrs, Eicher,
from Clarksburg, P. O. Box two-seven-
seven, His roadster carried West Vir-
ginia license tags. Can’t get a trace
on the Eichers, or Pierson. See what
you can do, Duckworth.”
HE TWO POLICE CHIEFS talked
several minutes more, checking and
verifying details, then hung up. Chief
Duckworth made a final study of the
notes he took, then walking to the
door of the office called in his city
detective, Carl B. Southern.
Detective Southern, an experienced,
alert officer who knew Clarksburg as
thoroughly as any man, promptly an-
swered the summons.
“Carl,” Chief Duckworth said when
he walked in, “Park Ridge, Illinois,
wants us to locate a Cornelius O, Pier-
son, Chief Johnson up there thinks
Pierson may be a Clarksburg man, or
uses a maildrop here. Seems he’s a mail-
order Romeo, That’s his personal busi-
ness. But a mother and her three chil-
48
Mercandetti had not been quite so for- ‘
tunate. She was mortally wounded. E
As she lay dying, but conscious, in
St. Claire’s Hospital police brought
Combe to her bed. She identified him
as the man who’ had shot her. Diane —
was swiftly taken to the operating room
for emergency surgery. At eleven-fifteen |
that morning. slightly more than three ~
hours after Combe had shot her, the ~~
beautiful youngster passed away on the ~*~
Operating room table. &
The thin, five-foot, ten-inches tall
youth was taken to the West 47th ~~
Street stationhouse and booked on ©
charges of felonious assault, Sullivan
Law violation, and homicide.
In Felony Court, on April 18th,
1958, William Combe was ordered re- ©
turned to Bellevue Hospital for mental —
Observation by the presiding judge,
Magistrate Francis X. O’Brien.
The real-life drama-in-the-raw ended
when, on June 16th, 1958, William
Combe was judged insane and com-
mitted to an asylum. *
dren have disappeared, which makes it
our business. Check with the postoffice,
auto license registration, and the city
directory.”
Detective Southern quickly learned
that no license tags had been issued in
the name of Cornelius O. Pierson. He
thumbed through the directory, and
could not find the name.. However, the
name was known at the postoffice. At
least, it was that given by a short
heavy-set man when he rented Box 277.
A clerk told Detective Southern that
the man appeared periodically to collect
his mail—letters addressed from almost
every section of the country.
With the co-operation of postal au-
thorities, Chief Duckworth and Detec-
tive Southern set up a watch on Box
277, and at the same time proceeded
to examine its rental records.
“This may be our first break, Carl,”
Chief Duckworth said pointing to a
small notation which caught his eye. It
was an old request to forward mail
addressed to Cornelius O. Pierson, care
of Harry F. Powers, Quincy Street.
Clarksburg.
Detective Southern smiled wryly as
he read it. “They always slip some-
where,” he observed. “This looks like
the goods.”
At the Quincy Street address a
pleasant woman who appeared to be
in her middle forties answered their
knock. Her startled look at seeing the
two officers changed to relief when
they asked to see Cornelius O. Pierson.
“Pierson?” She repeated the name,
“Thank goodness no one with that
name lives here. You must have the
wrong house.”
The shrewd officers watching her ex-
pression were convinced that she was
being truthful.
“May we speak with Mr, Powers in-
stead?” Chief Duckworth asked gently.
\
“Perhaps I can help you,” she offered.
A swift understanding look passed © |
between the ee swift for her
to catch.
“Mr. Powers is away a great deal of
the time,” she added. “He’s a traveling
salesman, and it is usually rather dif-
ficult to find him home. Right now he’s
in Detroit, but I do expect him back
tonight or early tomorrow. Are you sure
I can’t help you?”
Careful to avoid alarming the quarry
through innocent means, Chief Duck-. ™
worth said casually, “No, thank you, It ©
will keep. We’ll drop around again.” ~
Standing again at the prowl car, a™
pleased light shone in Chief Duck- ~
worth’s eyes. 4
“A traveling salesman,” Detective
Southern observed sardonically. “Poor
woman, if she only knew his business.
He’s our man, all right. You don’t have * |
any doubts now?” hae
“None, Carl.” A serious expression oe 5
fixed itself on Chief Duckworth’s sharp ~~
features. “I’m ordering a twenty-four-
hour watch on the house,” he said. “We
may lose some sleep, but I think it’s — =
going to pay off.” Ga
“I’m ready,” Detective Southern re- -% —
plied. ?
T WAS then only mid-afternoon. As |
Chief Duckworth sped off to head--.
quarters to arrange the necessary de- |
tails of the watch, posts and relief, De- »
tective Southern lingered unobtrusively -
in Quincy Street. Residents went about
their usual business sensing nothing ex-
traordinary. Unknown to them a police __—
detail took up a position back of the -
house. Every approach to the street was
under ceaseless scrutiny. Chief Duck-
worth planted the trap well, and along
with his alerted police awaited develop-
ments. Night fell on Clarksburg, and the
long hours tolled into daybreak. But no
POLICE FILES
ee
Rian Siete
{ 26 POLICE FILES S ey = Z a a
wd ths te
OCTOBER, 1963. SHS 0S w
ra ty “°
MO rs sis
2. Spe >
a va
. agde¢
| O53 ® o
.— } >
Monster rented this garage,
stored victim’s belongings.
SADIST’S
DEN OF
HIDDEN
BODIES
HE CHARMED HIS WAY INTO
THE HEARTS
AND PURSES OF LONELY WIDOWS
by Jerry J. McQuilligan
% SHE GLANCED into the mirror, then stopped to study
herself carefully, in the first serious appraisal she had made
since Henri died, True, a few wisps of gray had slipped
into her neatly coiffured hairdo. But her children
were young yet, and so was she, Mrs, Asta B, Eicher
decided. There were no lines in her face, her figure
had remained slim and firm to the touch. Men would
still find her quite attractive, she decided.
Again she glanced at the column ot the American Friend-
ship society’s bulletin that she still clutched in her hand and
reread:
“Civil engineer, college education. Worth $150,000 or
more, has income from $600 to $3,000 per month. My
business enterprises prevent me from making social contacts.
I am unable, therefore, to make the acquaintance of the
right kind of women. As my properties are located in the
Middle West, I believe I will settle there when married. Am
an Elk and a Mason, own a beautiful ten-room home, com-
pletely furnished. My wife would have her own car and
plenty of spending money.
Cornelius O. Pierson
Box 277, Clarksburg, W. Va.
_Fond memories were stirring in Asta’s widowed bosom.
Since Henri’s death in 1927, the past four years had been
Ghoulish looking killer (r.), with police in garage cellar.
very lonely even with the children to console her. Henri
had been a good husband, and his prosperous silversmith
business left her in comfortable circumstances. She knew
that Henri would want her to marry again, if she could find
the right man.
Several of her friends had made happy marriages through
the matrimonial bulletins and, on their suggestion, she
began within the past year to read them. This ad of Pierson’s
sounded promising.
Turning away from the mirror her look of anticipation
faded as she asked herself, “But what will he think of a
widow with three children?” Asta determined to be quite
frank in her first letter. Apparently Pierson found the
children no obstacle. His reply beautifully penned in purple
ink came promptly:
“Death has taken my previous wife from me, leaving
me quite alone and very lonely. I am longing for some-
one to take her place, and someone to fill that empty space
in my heart.
“Women are the sweetest, purest and most precious
part of the human race. They sing the melody of human
life. Any man who has experienced a mother’s devotion, a
wife’s self-sacrificing love or a sweetheart’s affection knows
that this is true.
“So I am trying in this manner to find the one, the only
POLICE FILES
Officials remove body of Greta Eicher, 14, from trench.
Garage where bodies of sadist’s victims were found.
pe nner re meng pen ant a
Officer with photos of women
who corresponded with maniac.
one that can make home a paradise, a place of rest, a heaven
of contentment where loved ones await and to whom I can
look forward with pleasure and anticipation. Who knows
but what you may be that one?
“Again, please write. You shall never have any cause for
regret, Use the enclosed envelope and tell me lots about
yourself. Please do.”
On the afternoon of June 22, 1931, Asta B. Eicher peered
expectantly out of a downstairs window of her home in Park
Ridge, lll., a suburb of Chicago. An unfamiliar light sports
roadster was braking to a stop at the tree-lined curb in front
of her house. A short, heavy-set man stepped from the car,
adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses, and looked at the house as
if to make sure of the address.
Curious, but well-meaning neighbors, wondered about
Asta’s visitor when they saw him at the house several days.
“Asta,” one bolder neighbor inquired, “who is your
guest?”
Smiling coyly, she replied, “Oh, Cornelius Pierson is just
an old friend of the family.”
Early on the morning of June 25th, the neighbors from
28
vantage points in their homes watched as Pierson climbed
into his roadster and, with Asta bidding him a warm farewell,
drove off, The following day the street buzzed with news
when Asta departed too, leaving Greta, aged 14, Harry
12, and Annabel, just nine, in charge of a nurse.
Except for postcards to the children from Zanesville,
Ohio, with words of love and “hello from Mr. Pierson,”
and a letter to the nurse dated June 28th and postmarked
“Clarksburg, W. Va.,” no one in Park Ridge ever heard
from Asta B. Eicher again. Apprehensive over other strange
events centering about the Eicher family, neighbors placed
the matter in the hands of Police Chief Harold W. Johnson.
Seated in his small, tidy office in Park Ridge, Police Chief
Johnson, a sober expression on his determined face, waited
for the operator to put through his call to Clarksburg, West
Virginia.
The line spluttered, cleared suddenly, then a deep, in-
cisive voice said, “Police Chief C. O. Duckworth speaking.”
“Duckworth . . . this is Johnson, Park Ridge, Illinois.
I've got a pick-up order for Cornelius O. Pierson on a
kidnaping charge. And it may be even worse. . .”
, POLICE FILES
“Just a second.” Chief Duckworth interrupted, quickly
reaching for a pencil and note pad. “All right, ready,” he
said as he was marking the date, August 25th.
“Pierson’s a short, heavy-set man. Wears horn-rimmed
glasses. Has a pleasant, gentle manner. Left Park Ridge
June 25th. Mrs. Eicher left next day. She’s never been back.
Pierson turned up July Ist, told the nurse he was taking
the children to their mother. Mrs. Eicher hired a nurse
before she went, and the nurse received a letter supposedly
written by her to allow Pierson to take the children. Early
July 2nd, Pierson piled the three children in his car and
drove away.”
.Chief Duckworth rapidly repeated the story Johnson
was telling him, and at the same time his keen eyes checked
over the notes he was making.
_ “Right,” Johnson said when Duckworth finished, and then
in calm, even tones went on with the recital. “Pierson re-
turned to Park Ridge several days ago, alone. He took
charge of the house, and began storing furniture in the
Eicher garage. Several of the neighbors telephoned me
about it. (Continued on page 48)
POLICE FILES
Madman holds hammer (I.) with
which he bludgeoned skull of
girl, held by officer (r.).
treatment,
ifidenee, [|
d I would
'S attitude,
out, only
mal reha-
uifications,
» the end
still in the
: chance;
himself
Ip. And
inhuman
be oblit-
‘Sof our
is should
nding of
PUrposes
finally
it is to
airy will
‘inal and
roblem.
True Detective M ysteries
I Saw “Bluebeard” Powers Die
(Continued from page 65)
through papers on a
table in his cell, picked out a letter and
handed it through the bars. It was a
letter from his wife—her last letter to
im.
_ A newspaperman took the letter. “Shall
_T read it aloud?” he asked,
Powers nodded, turned and walked be-
hind a screen in the rear of his cell, and
the newspaperman read aloud an endeary-
ing message from & woman who appar-
ently loved Powers. She vowed her love
for him in this last message, As the read-
ing of the letter ended, Powers came from
behind the sereen,
“That is all, boys,” he suid. “Good-bye.”
Fate had decreed that Harry Powers’
last day on earth should be filled with
sunshine. Throughout. the afternoon the
sun shone through the barred windows of
the death house to light up the cell where
this man awaited his end. And as it set
that evening its flaming red rays daneed
on the window-panes as if in farewell,
Newspapermen waited in the office of
Warden A, Scroggins throughout. the
day: They waited for—they didn’t know
what. Perhaps, they thought, this man |
who would soon meet his God might, be-
fore the end, write a final confession. "The
hours’ went quickly by. Three o’clock
came, and with it a message from Powers’
cell—a weird message. Powers wanted a
picture tuken—a Jast photo to send his
wife,
TE was attired in prison garb, The only
other clothing available was the cloth-
ing he would wear to his death. He donned
that clothing for his last picture.
“he photo made, Powers went back to
his cell to receive Doctor H. H. Haynes,
of Clarksburg. The physician had ‘been
Powers’ medical examiner since his ar-
rest. He had lent financial assistance to
the accused man at. his trial. There was
a half-hour’s conference. Then Powers
penned a note. It came out of the death
house late in the afternoon, in a scaled
A. C. Scroggins, warden of the
State penitentiary, in West Virginia,
where Harry (“Bluebeard”) Powers
expiated his crime for the murder
ofte've
envelope which bore this inscription:
“Warden Scroggins—In case of my
death, consider this yours. Otherwise,
please return.”
There was an air of mystery about the
note. Newspapermen clamored for the
contents. But the Warden locked it in
his safe and went to Powers in his cell.
“I don’t want the note made publie until
sou are called upon to make it public,”
Powers told him.
“You mean, Harry, that Twill get a
call from: somewhere {o make it publie?”
the Warden asked,
Yes,” Powers answered,
It was time for the evening meal now.
Harry Powers was to eat for the last time,
As is customary in any death house, the
condenined man was asked if he desired a
special dinner,
“VU have the regular prison meal,” he
said. “If I am to pass out I’m not going
to éclebrate.”
IIc ate the regular prison fare.
A FEW blocks away, at the Kreglow
Hotel, a crowd had begun to gather
before dinner, Men came from everywhere
in the state nnd from other states—men
Who had been instrumental in running
Powers down; men who had aided in the
investigation ; even one of the jurors who
had convieted him. They were Invited
guests of the state. And there were scores
of others, not invited, who hoped to wit-
ness the execution nevertheless,
Darkness crept over the city. Lights
flickered on in the streets. Men began to
leave the hotel, alone and in small groups,
prison-bound,
At 7:30 in the evening, outside the grim
prison walls, a crowd was collecting. Hun-
dreds of persons soon lined the curbs.
Those who had passes for the execution
drifted into the prison. office,
Carefully-typed invitations were pre-
sented to the prison clerk and little black-
bordered cards—official tickets for the
death house—were handed out in return
for the invitations.
The clock tolled half after eight, Pow-
ers had half an hour to live. Nearly every
invited guest was present. But there was
no excitement about the prison office.
Rather, . there was an air of routine.
Guards and attendants went on with their
regular order of business, unmindful of
the grim event that neared, :
Twenty minutes now!
lifteen!
Ten!
The voice of Deputy-Warden C. E.
Brill broke the silence that had settled
over the throng gathered in the prison
oftice,
“You who are armed will leave your
weapons at the desk,” he shouted,
Not a man stepped forward,
Again the voice boomed.
“Cameras will also be left at the desk,”
Not a person stirred, '
The voice sounded again.
“This way, gentlemen.”
The crowd surged toward a narrow pas-
Sageway that led into the interior of the
prison. The procession of death was un-
er way.
There is a “squirrel cage” entrance to
the interior of West Virginia’s prison. It
is a cylindrical mechanism of steel bars.
A guard in the office, seated by a window
like a motorman in his cab, operates the
controller. It has but a single door-like
entrance, which is also the exit. Into this
filed dozen or more. The cylinder
whirled around. The men alighted. The
cage whirled back for another load. And
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|
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APeeraDy <
” | POWERS DIE/ |
a By
otk WILLIAM A. WHITE
” he Sunday Editor, The Pittsburgh PRess
icted
Mas
larch led from a garage Powers had built in the solitude of Quiet
ught Dell, just a few miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. The
oom Victims had been tortured, inhumanly tortured into death.
I studied the man, Powers, for a moment. Could it be
% for that this man—though he had once conf ossed—wwas
» had innocent of these crimes?
s be- “Harry, are you guilty of these crimes? Did you kill
those women and children?” T asked, suddenly.
hed: He looked me straight in the eye, and he didn’t bat
tear, an eyelash as he answered, coolly, calmly:
hich “Tam not guilty. I was unfairly, tried—in a district
where a mob outside the jail had clamored for my life
othy without trial. I could not have been tried fairly there,”
and I thought again. This man was to die ten hours later,
a Could he talk thus—could he actu-
1e ally lie—with death so near? ass :
ae Not far from the cell stood the William A. White who
two Reverend Earl M. Giesey, Protes- Pe, Soe pears ae
ye ‘ a J) T. D. M. the story of
dies tant chaplain of the prison. Bluebeard’s crimes in the
ill- “That letter, Harry—what about January number, and here
that it?” heasked. (Continued on page 107) tells its dramatic sequel
At the right, indicated by arrow, is the death cell in the penitentiary at Moundsville from which Bluebeard walked
to his death. Inset shows the author’s invitation card to the execution
ee
i
108
finally all of the forty witnesses were
inside,
In a long hallway that leads to the
prison yard the speetators lined up against
the walls. From down another hall came
the shuffle of feet. In a second a group of
guards swung around the corner and
marched double file through the lane of
those. who waited. As the last guard
passed, the spectators, too, fell double
file into the line.
Into the yard the procession moved.
The sky was cloudless. There was silence,
except for the shuffle of fect, Down the
winding path that leads to the prison
street moved this long line of men, Some
in the procession broke ranks, started to
walk in groups of three or four. The
quict’ voice of a guard broke up the
groups.
“March two abreast,” he ordered.
The death house was only a few feet
away now. The procession turned left,
headed toward a,huge door in the wall
labeled “Wagon Gate”. Lights blazed from
a little brick building just ahead. A key
turned in a lock. The death-house door
opened.
HERE was the click of another key in
a lock as the marchers headed up the
short flight of steps into the death house,
A barred door swung open from a cell. A
pudgy little man stepped out, swung
briskly around to the right. Two men
stepped beside him, Warden Scroggins and
Deputy Brill.
Harry Powers had started his death
march. :
Steps lead up from the death cells to
the scaffold. At the foot of the steps the
pudgy little man_ hesitated. A guard
moved up as if to urge him forward. But
his hesitation was not from fear. He
turned to the Warden.
“You have been good to me,” he said,
About Kidnapping
(L. M.) San Fernanpo, Cauirornra—
Solving the Sensational Donnelly Kid-
napping in your April number is especially
interesting NOW, as the entire country
wants to know how to obtain, unharmed,
-a kidnapped ‘person; also -how to capture
the kidnappers. This story tells the
straight truth: How the woman was kid-
napped; her treatment while held a
prisoner; how she was rescued,
We'd Like To, But From A Mechan-
ical Stand point, It Is Impossible.
(J. C.) Hottywoop, CatirornrA—I have
been a constant reader of your T. D. M..
magazine for some time, so think I am
entitled to make a suggestion in regard
to a slight change in your Line-Up
columns. It has been a custom with me
to clip the fugitive pictures out and paste
them in a book which I always have in
my possession. I would suggest that you
True Detective Mysteries
“A week ago I asked you to bury my
body. I told you I did not. want to burden
my wife with this expense, | repeat that
request now. Will you bury me?”
“T will, Harry,” answered the Warden.
The hand of the man who Was to die
shot out. It grasped that of the Warden.
The promise was sealed.
Powers turned quickly and fairly raced
up the steps.
The spectators were in the death cham-
ber now—a long, narrow room. There is
a high eciling at one ond. Ten fect above
the floor is a porch-like construction, like
a mezzanine floor in a building. There is
a space beneath, like the space beneath a
porch that has not been lattieed in. Above
the mezzanine floor a twelve-inch beam
extends across the width of the room.
Black curtains were stretched across, Two
ordinary barn lanterns burned in either
corner under the mezzanine.
Suddenly the black curtains parted,
ARRY POWERS stood in the center
of a semicircle of men. His arms were
strapped behind him, His logs were
strapped, too, at the ankle and the knee,
Nine guards flanked hint. Warden Scrog-
gins stood out front, to the prisoner’s left.
Deputy Brill steadied the prisoner, Chap-
lain Giesey stood at Powers’ tight. ’
Powers wore a dark suit with pin stripes,
a white collar and a gaudy blue tie. He
stared straight ahead, Chaplain Giesey’s
voice rose in prayer.
At the end of the prayer Warden Scrog-
gins spoke.
“Harry, have you any farewell mes-
sage?” he asked.
Powers’ mouth twitched, He shook his
hedd. His lips opened and’ the single
word, “No,” hardly audible, fell upon the
crowd below.
Deputy Brill pulled a black, bag-like
mask over the condemned man’s head,
Bravos and Bullets
(Continued from page 3)
place your advertising matter behind
these two pages in order to avoid mutilat-
ing an interesting story. I always pass
these T. D. M. magazines on to the boys
at the “Soldiers Home” and sometimes
the stories are incomplete after removing
the Ling-Up,
The Crooks Think. Him Hard To
Beat, Too
(L. H.) Greenviws, Intrors—tI have
een a reader of T, D. M. for about three
years and I think it is the best detective
magazine I have ever read. The story
Smiling Sam Hanna’s Sinister Secret was
very good. I think Luke S. May is very
‘hard to beat,
“Depressing Thought For The Day”
Department
(R. G. R.) Cotumara, Missourt—Of its
kind ‘your magazine is of interest. and
doing some good. But I would suggest
He took a huge, hempen rope attached
to the twelve-inch beam above from a peg
on the wall, and dropped it over Powers’
head. With one hand the Deputy reached
to the wall. A finger found a small but-
ton. He pushed. A “buzz” was heard
distinctly.
Three men sat behind the scaffold. They
were invisible to the audience, Each
grasped a lever. At the sound of the
buzzer they: counted, slowly —“One—two—
three.”
There was a creaking sound, like the
opening of a huge barn door. Two trap
doors sprang back, and Powers plunged
downward into space,
The spectators surged forward, nearer
fo the body that dangled in’ the glare of
light that shone down through the trap.
Guards swept the spectators back. Five
doctors stepped forward and applied
stethoscopes,
The minutes passed—five, ten, eleven.
... Then a doctor nodded to the warden,
pecring down through the trap.
The warden turned to the assemblage.
“Harry Powers is dead,” he announced,
West Virginia's modern “Bluebeard”,
the Romeo of Quict Dell, had answered
for his crimes,
A WEEK later, on a call from Doctor
Haynes, Warden Scroggins telephoned
me at my office in Pittsburgh. He was
making public Powers’ last message—the+
mysterious one that came from his cell on
the afternoon prior to his death,
It was a simple statement, saying
he had written his life story in his death
cell,
The fifty-thousand-word document was
then in the possession of Doctor Haynes,
It was, Powers had stated, true in its
entirety.
The life story included a confession of
his guilt.
that you be less sensational in your cover
and your statements, Endeavor to check
your writers in calling every woman beau-
tiful—make statements conform to the
photographs. There is not one beautiful
woman in a thousand.
Disarming The Ladies And Gentle-
men Who Have Guns Trained On
The Editors
CF. 5d: R.)—My husband and I have
been reading T. D. M. now for several
years, from cover to cover. Please do
not let any of those “Bullets” kid you. If
they did not enjoy each and every story
and article, they would not continue to
M.
purchase T. D,
May We Suggest That You Save.
Them Permanently, After All, You
Never Know
(C. P..R.) Srartie, WasHInacton—Ag I
printing these pages.
ECTIVE MYSTERIES and the closing date of the Ph
nm the judging until next month,
This condition increases the task with which the judges are faced. Of cours
to make an equitable award of the prizes, This will be d
Every effort will be made to publish some definite announcement on the awards in this contest in next month’s issue. Watch for it!
About the Phony Alibi Contest
As the closing date of this issue of TRUE Det
is impossible to publish any definite report o
However, it is evident from a casual survey of random entries before turning them over to the judges that a great deal of serious thought and research
have been expended by many contestants. The quality of entries submitted is remarkably high and
the satisfaction of knowing that they have won out against the stiffest sort of competition,
0 ony Alibi Contest fall on Practically the same date it
The judges will be engaged in their task while the presses are
those to whom the judges award the prizes will have
¢ each entry will be read and rated in relation to each other entry in order
one with all reasonable speed but we will not sacrifice accuracy and fairness on the altar of time,
am a
back 3
all tin
throw:
Be H
(A.
How
that 1
City:
kidni)
pened
of eu
That’ t
Cons:
OF
to the
IT hay
magi
that |
Just \
Laun
(A
Here
vest:
fied E
olds,
imagin
good |
in Ew
man u
are ge’
to, 2.
and Bi
realize
make t
crime
longer «:
I been
(ANo:
DED.
————___
STA
THE
mont!
are; I
worth,
Yonke:
a aK
immex
more
indivis
name
polita:
Broad
Engle
3. i
or m
None.
believe
said s:
~F
aFlowerggin Coat Lapel
The men were attired in plain
dark suits, similar to those provid-
ed all convicts who leave the penl-
tentiary. white shirts and dark ties.
In the lapal of each one’s coat had
been placed a small orange colored
gindiola. Both were freshly shaved.
The black hoods, which covered
he men’s faces, were put on, the |
hangman's nooses were sif{qd over
thelr heads and drawn tight. and
Franklin pressed a button, a signal) |
for three guards, stationed tn the!
rear of the room and out of sight to
pull ropes, one of which released
the traps.
Instantly Morrison and Willmot
were hanging on a level with the
floor of the room. Pits about two
feet deep had heen dug beneath
each of the traps and although
Morrison's feet were now hanging
almost on a level with the floor on
which the spectators stood, they
dangled tn the alr. Four prison
physicians, Drs. Henry Ashworth,
Harold Ashworth, 9. P. Wilson and
Otto Fisher applied stethoscopes to
the chest of each man.
| Dend In 12 Minutes
There was a commotion {In the |
rear of the reom. One of the spec: |
tators had fainted. He was carried |
eut and quickly revived. Twelve |
minutes after the traps had been
sprung the doctors concurred that |
the men were dead |
“ALL spectators clear the room"
1) Alod ant
or ee oe
q
(BEA 14,1999 Qo2l + 12 PAGES
'STATE’S DEBT PAID AS
SLAYERS ARE HANGED
Morrison afd Willmot Die on Gallows at State Penitentiary
for Sensational Kanawha County Murder of Frank
Bowen; Traps Sprung Simultaneously
14] 14 21>
i Ry STAFF CORRESPONDENT
MOUNDSVILLE, Sept. 14.—Finis has. been written in the Frank
Bowen murder case. ;
The last chapter in the tragedy of last May 8 which stirred Kanawha
county ended last night shortly before 9 o'clock at the West Virginia
penitentiary.
At 8:44 o'clock traps were released simultaneously from beneath Wal-
ter E. Willmot, 21 yea?s old, and Millard F. Morrison, 24 years old. At
&:56 the men who had been convicted of the crime were officially pro-
nounced dead and they had! paid with their lives on the gallows the penalty
exacted by the state. '
The spectators were cledred from
the execution room and the bodies}:
of the two men were cut down.
Tromically, Morrison's father, who
died eight months ago, would have
been 50 years old yesterday. The
two condemned men weré ushered
into the chamber at 8:41 o'clock,
35 Witness’ Execution
The room is small, bately large
j encueh to accommodate the 35
| Spectators who filed in. At one end
; was a platform, approximately 10
| feet from the floor. The rpectators
| had stood for perhaps 46 seconds
| when through a small door on the
| right of the platform Morrison en-
|} tered. He was followed quickly by
, Willmot and six penitentiary
|guards. A, L. Franklin, ¢aptain of
B prison guards; Rev. W. C. Har-
|
|
ya)
old, prison chaplain, and Dr. L. M.
Robinson, warden of the peniten-
tiary, entered. The warden stood
In the tiny door way. The guards
eacorted the doomed men to the
traps. As the straps ware being ad-
justed, one about the ankies, an-
other around the thighs, a_ third
‘around thelr wrists held behind
their backs and a foutth strap
around their upper arms,| Rev. Mr.
Harold prayed for mercy on the
two men's souls,
A mixed quartet, standing In the
'death cells chambers was singing
softly “I'm Going Home.” Their
_volces were just nudible in the exe-
cutlon chambers,
! “Have you men anything to say"
‘asked Franklin at conclusion of the
prayer.
“I have nothing to say but good-
| bye,’ said Morrison.
As if an echo, Willmot muttered
| “goodbye.” Both men ware whiter,
Ithan they were when they had
l stepped on to the platform. Both
I looked straight ahead. As the
| straps were being tightened, the
‘ o t?
; From Page One)
moon, thelr lunch was served
orrison declined to eat, At
o’clock they where bathed,
band received the clothes tn
ma they were hanged. Shortly
» they were drewsed, they were
ken’ for a walk through the
onde by Rev. Mr. Harold. Dur-
thelr absence of about ona
the traps Were sprung severc!
“With 100-pound weights on
Whowe the girl?’ newspaper
asked Morrison Friday after.
‘ ea'they pointed to a picture
.% blonde girl which rested on
(fisher in the cell. The picture
Sees thaione that Morrison carried
Ifo hie death.
“She's my girl.” he replied and
th. ‘pride. “Isn't she pretty.”
® correspondent agreed.
_| Wilmot Prond of Wife
mot, in the adjoining cell,
ed up his ears. “Say, you fel-
“i, Althongh Morrison had requested
‘MG stipper when Willmot's chicken,
gpaghetti, mashed potatoes, lemon
‘ple and ice cream were served at
“RO o'clock, he requested some of
_ Chicken and = spaghetti. He
top his meal off with three
are, smoking them one after the
t Thetr) final houre were
epent with Rev. Mr. Harold fn
.
& ‘erowd estimated at 5,900 peo-
ple thronged about the rear gates
te the penitentiary as the bodies
4 removed in undertakers’ auto-
smobdilen At midnight Friday, al-
F rptade the bodies were taken to
\aifferent undertakers, more than
3,000 people had passed by Mor-
A tivon’s body.
jig They had waited in line for more
me an hour while it was being
Prepared for burial. Thrones
Watted in front of the establish-
@ment where Willmot’s body was
itaken; waiting ‘until it had been
prepared so they could see it
~Mrs. Bowen, after seeing the
of Morrison, -waited on the
‘Street in front of the undertaker’s
‘e@tadlishment where Willmot's body
"(wes being prepared so that she
waight see it. “I will wait all night
af. necensary,” she said.
[The execution last night was the
‘fitet to take place on Friday the
th, at the state penitentiary
1902. It was the first double
tion since 1915 and was the
fourth double since 1892.
> WISITED BY WITH
“2 Pat B. Withrow. superintendent of
; the @nion Mispion, was in Mounds-
Wille Friday afternoon where he
Seca Walter E. Willmot and Mil-
, lard FF. Morrison, a few hours he-
fore they were executed. Mr. With-
row, while conducting meetings {n
_ the jafl here before the two men
“went to the prison, promised them
_that he would see them again be-
t the execution.
r, Withrow sald that the two
‘men forgot their enmity in their last
, hours and that they had an agree-
ment not to reveal who fired the
shot that killed Bowen.
“It ts of no interest’ to the pub-
Ne. We have buried the hatchet
and are going to pay the penalty,”
the sald jthat the two'mren told him.
Mr. Withrow said that In their
Yast howrs ey frequently joked and
recainedi their composure as long as
there. :
- ¥t > wee .a circumstance thot
‘Drought Morrison and Willmot to
y Juatice. Guilty conacience, too,
i}robably played a part.
' Fear of the discovery of thelr
erima probably prompted Willmot
to apeed up Bowen's automobile
after he had received ai warning
wave from Motorcycle Patrolman A.
XY. Youell on the South Ruffner road
near the Charleston Riding Academy
@ auhort time after the siaving. Had
he heeded the warning of speed the
patrolman might not have halted !
the car and made the subsequent |
gtewaome discovery of Bowen's body,
sfumped down in the front seat.
‘ On Way to Hide Corpse |
According to the slayers' = story,
they were on thelr way to find a |
eonvenient spot to hide the corpse
~when Patrolman Youell hailed them.
Stopping Willmot to reprimand him
for fast driving. the officer dis-
covered two guns In the automobile
and decided to arrest the occupants.
When the automobile was taken to
<police . headquarters the body of!
’ Bowen was found. ’
Bowen, tha “Good Samatitan.” had |
atopped near his filling station on |
the Lens creck road to help Will-.
mot and Morrison after their auto-.
mobile broke down. He was shot In
the back of the head as he was
driving the New Jersey tourists to
a filling station to get gasoline for
their car. His body was kept in his
‘~own automobile which the tourists
' gppropriated for their own use and
Morrison, Wilimot and the latter's
bride resumed the “honeymoon”
tour of Willmot and his wife which
culminated tragically.
22 |
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
os ieee if aS had recelmed the money yet for a horse that
aceag : Jimmey told him that they had not as yet, but
‘i. . as t * oe my. They walked on a few steps and then
; € will go no further as it is too dark to see to
and calling a boy by name that lived with
shoot the raccoons,”’
sa se “he will watch the raccoons till daylight.” He then
ee fe) = house and ee the rest of the night with Jimmey,
aes ee the next morning without saying more about the
Ss. Jimmey told the family the nex j
=p ieee actions of Morgan, and they a ial
§an might try to get the money, but did not seem to be "4 fie
least alarmed about the safety of the family or any one of eke
“it
oH!
RSEyy
7
A068
JAMES GREENE, the Murdered Boy.
(Taken from a Tintype, when 14 years of age.)
ey told a neighbor, Mr. John Chancey, of Morgan's strange
actions, and he requested them to let him know if : ae
happened. At six o'clock on the following Tuesday eae
which was after dark, Morgan came to Mrs. Greene’s hous ae
raed as usual to all the family. Before bed time h ee
Matilda Pfost to cut his hair. She declined to do so ai a e
asked her if she would cut it if he would remain he ni i oe
~ replied that she presumed that she could doso. Mor ae -
retired with Jimmey Greene and slept with hind ait sisi oa:
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. ~
- the next morning, he and Jimmey arose about five o’clock, the
usual time for the family to arise. Jimmey Greene went out to
feed the hogs, and Morgan followed him out to the hog-pen, and
there, with an old mattock, killed him, and then crushed his head
with a stone. At the same time the aged lady, all unconscious
of the awful tragedy being enacted without, was telling the two
daughters to “treat John the best they could; that she did not
. believe he would hurt them.”
MISS MATILDA PFOST, one of Morgan's Victims.
(Sketched from a poorly made tintype, taken six years ago.)
In a few moments, Morgan came into the, house, and when
asked where Jimmey was, replied that he had gone to his traps.
Matilda said that he had brought in his traps the evening before.
Then Morgan went out on the porch and whistled in an inaudible
manner, and then came back into the house, saying that he
heard Jimmey whistling down in the field. At this time the two
daughters went out into the kitchen to prepare breakfast, and the
mother went into a room to make upa bed. Morgan went into
the kitchen, and then the two former took a lamp and went out
to the milk-house to get milk for use at breakfast; on returning,
one of them remarked that “it is strange that Jimimey has not
returned.’ Morgan then went out on the porch, came back in,
ee
- Sround, with four frightful wound
24
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
and said that he heard Jimmey coming ;
the subject by Saying that he “had sle
a night.” He then struck Matil
0 the sitting room
As she went through the sitting room, she
looked back and saw Morgan coming through the Passage-way
by the chimney into the sitting room. Matilda had made her way
to this room, for it was here that she
Greene was stil] in the bed room,
battered down the door,
vas found dead. Mrs.
with the door closed. Morgan
splitting it in several Pieces, and attacked
Mrs. Greene with the hatchet, following her
escape through the sitting room to
with her feet lying on the edge of th
in her efforts to
the porch; when he left her
1€ porch, and her body on the
S on the head, and there she
struggled, dying in her own blood. Alice had taken refuge
behind a pile of boards for a time, afterward in the corner ofa
hen-house, then concluded that she had be
tter go for help,
Bleeding, she m
ade her way through the corn-field, and at last,
almost exhausted from loss of blood and from fright, reached Mr.
John Chancey’s, a distance of four hundred yards, Her screams
brought Mr. Chancey out, and she told him that John F. Morgan
was killing her mother and sister.. As she ran she heard her
mother and sister Screaming for help, and the latter calling for
her to come back and get the gun and help them. But Alice did
not return, and it was well that she did not; for, most assuredly,
she also would have been killed outright, for it must have been
the intention of Morgan to kill the entire family, and thus, if pos-
sible to hide himself from suspicion. But Alice was spared to
make known to the world who had committed the awful crime.
; then he tried to change
pt in that room many
25
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
Not over 10 or 15 minutes had elapsed yore
Chancey, his son William, and Mr. Edward Southall,
a Ace a number of peer were at Pea
found Mrs. Greene still alive but unconscious. aie eee ae
in a similar condition, lying on the ae = a oo cay
of blood. Jimmy was found dead at th - :
ne mattock leaning against Sng coin: ie ae
deadly hatchet, with which the Soper eee een : 2 aes
some little distance from the house in the gar ‘- be a
Chadicey’s, near where Alice first hid, a oa = pers
which gray hairs were clinging. moe 7 ; ne sah aoe ss
to follow Alice as she went to Mr. Chancey i ‘ A ae
too long in the butchery of the other members o
he Cc, avdanGaor Ing 1
es ing through his
idence, getting there about daylight. Rushing an ae
res ) . “cc f them are kille
: > says to his wife, ‘allo ;
house excited, he Says : ring to
i ies "—(this was the name he always used when pe aa
to Cloies “— Ss was y - who done it?” Morgan
is wife saying, “law, who
Mrs. Greene.) His wi : 4 : seen by Mr.
king the reply, “you will hear who.” He was next ; cn
at f : istance o
G. W ‘Shaebien going through his field, at a dist ee
. cates : ; 1S -
four miles from Morgan’s home. Mr. Shamblen oer him ina
nor : 11 ¢
: ae Morgan, overtaking
: ‘ent in pursuit of Mo es
a shot gun and wen : regan said,
hort wae After being compelled to surrender, Morg s
ort dista > : ived upor
Don’t kill me, I'll give up.” Other persons soon arrived uy
6c on’t xi n : :
is ut 8 o'clock
and taken to the scene of the tragedy. This was abo
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
and here was marion and you herd them afterwards the time that
get conveyances, and b
, y 10 o'clock j :
k in the morning fully six hun- W litten levied on your stuff and you come to me for the money
and the said that they would put you out of the way if you dont
| eu | dred sui were at the Pfost homestead
yee eriff Shinn : :
| 1 and his guard, J. W. Shamblen, on arriving quit askin me for money ever few days rememember this
ioe “From your brother
took the pri ;
Prisoner in charge and proceeded with hitn to th
e scene (Signed) J. F. MORGAN.”
| i
Bl of the murder. ‘T ?
: he prisoner was i
trying to
& to play the insane act, “ Well Enoch will you make up a squad of ten and come and
take me out of here i herd miss mrs Wriley say that she will give
up the Kees up come to night and bring a wrope and protend
j
Wit at his ow
is | : wn request made the following sworn statement -
that you are going to hang me.”
ij * i; John N ;
ieee of Jackson ae ae Res oy sworn by iD. A. Brown, Coroner -
| and make this ite See eam Sworn at My Own request 3 e
: Bina Sees 4 atement under Oath free and voluntary on '
me hidieh S = Same is not extorted from me, nor ae b
y promise in the fut i : cose
Mrs G | uture. I killed Jimmy ¢ -
he — ee Matilda Pfost on the morning _ td di
deylicht fee Daas 1897. It was between 4 Pane a ine
second and Fidleiy atime i killed Matilda first, the old ie
a e re) me en. . ‘ . : ~
I done the crime in defending eye Me an Sell Referee
Signed, J. F. Morcan.”
“ Take y i
dea N, Sworn to and subscribed before me this November
} Signed D. A. Brown, }
oroner of Jackson County, W. Va.”
Withi : :
ithin a little time thereafter, the sheriff and his deputies
g'
jail.
MRS. ANNA H. MeVAY, Stenographer of the Circuit Court of Jackson Co.
Who has taken the proceedings of the Court. Mrs. McVay has the distinction of being
the first lady stenographer that ever practiced in the Courts of the State of West
Virginia. She has donea great deal of such work in different Counties.
A
oe WRITTEN BY THE PRISONER THE
AY AFTER HIS INCARCERATION,
The following j :
a an & 18 a true copy of a letter written by Morgan
ee ice 5: . oe day after he committed the triple murder THE TRIAL OF JOHN F. MORGAN.
vas taken from him by ; ;
Morgan’s cell: y Deputy Sheriff R. P. Shinn at
Phe Circuit Court was in session at the time of the awful
act, and on the morning of Thursday, November 4, 1897, the
“Dear brother : ; “ November the 4 1897.
hele een and Sister i want you to state that you both following witnesses were sent ‘before the Grand Jury, which was
eatening my life during the ti eee ee : Bae oe .
them that florence heard ‘hes ‘ ime that i staid with still in session, for the purpose of giving information before that
nom . ; :
ake these these there before you body concerning what was possibly the most terrible crime ever
28
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY,
cominitted in the State: D. A. Brown John W. Shamb] d
- Shamblen an
hort while the @
; rand r
into open court the followin pee emecied
prisoner, John F. Morgan, viz.:
‘State of West Virginia vs. John F. Morgan: No, 1
dictment for murder. A True Bil] | oe
“State of West Virginia vs. Jol
dictment for Murder.
J. O. Shinn, and in a very s
§ three Indictments against the
J. B. Morgan, Foreman.”
in F. Morgan. No, 2— In-
- J. B. Morgan, Foreman.”
a ate = West Virginia ys. John F, Morgan. No. 3.— In-
tment for Murder. J. B. Morgan, Foreman.”
The Grand Jury that so |
promptly dischar i
finding those Indictments, w Sey i
‘4 :
S composed of the following gentle-
Mee iJ. B. Morgan: Foreman, Samuel Dudgeon, W. R.’ Fe
: 7 » W. R. Fergu-
a a Jewel, E. J. Robinson, A.C. Robinson, J. M Chevur a
eae Bt Nusem, M. S. Scarbrough, D. L,. F es,
Monroe Miller, Kinsey Rand
D. W. Winter.
4
The Court at Once ordered the
Into Court room,
loyd, James McDermit,
J. H. Harpold, w. M. Pruden, and
Sheriff to bring the prisoner
and in a few moments Sherj
“a S Sheriff J. O. Shi
sisted by Deputy R. P. Shinn and ; een
Court with the prisoner, w
ys
ever h
Jailor B. F, Riley, appeared in
? ; ho appeared as cool as if nothing had
atppened in which he was concerned; and when asked by
the Court if he had an Attorney, replied that he had one:
tee asked who was his attorney, replied that it was vie oe
Sy baa ory, Brown stated to the Court that the ee
| ung with which to pay an attorney to defend him: and aft
ee Inquiry by the Court as to what property the a Se oe
a: <A Seay D. A. Brown to defend the prisoner oni
a irder of Mrs. Chloe Greene, Indictment No. 1.
upon, Attorney Brown, appeared to the case and de-
murred to the Indictment and entered the plea of “Not ae
ummoned as witnesses for the
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 29
the Court proceeded to impannel a jury to try the prisoner for
the murder of Mrs. Chloe Greene; and after several of the panel
of twenty had been discharged because having made up or ex-
pressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the prisoner,
a proper panel of twelve was obtained, composed of the following
named gentlemen: J. D. Bradley, George Gatchell, A. D.
Arnold, J. N. Province, J. W. Lambert, W. L. Safereed, M. A.
- Pinnell, G. W. Franklin, A. L. Arnold, John Alexander, S. D.
Carter and J. B. Casto.
The witnesses for the prisoner not having arrived, the Jury
was charged and placed in the custody of two Deputy Sheriffs
and the prisoner taken back to Jail. And after transacting some
other business, the Court adjourned until Friday morning,
November 5th, at 8 o’clock, A. M.
When Court convened on Friday morning, the Jury filed into
the Court room and the prisoner was brought in by the Sheriff
and guard, and as the prisoner walked up the isle of the court
room supported by each arm by the Sheriff and guard, the im-
mense crowd present, which had packed the court room almost
to suffocation, looked upon him with intense interest, the prisoner
appeared very much excited, and when reaching the Bar of the
” And when informed by the
Court asked, ‘‘ where is my wife?
Sheriff that his wife would be in in a few moments, took his seat
between the Sheriff and the guard, and in about. five minutes
the wife of the prisoner appeared supported by a Deputy, bearing
in her arms her infant child, aged nine months, on that day.
The Court than asked Attorney Brown what he had to say,
in reply the Attorney said, “if the witnesses are all here I am
ready,” and the Sheriff stated that the witnesses were all present,
and the Court then asked Mr. Brown if he was ready, to which
the Attorney replied, “I think we are.”
The Court then said, “I will again ask the Jury as an extra
precaution, if they have maintained their competency as Jurors,”
and asked Mr. Brown if he desired to be present at such inquiry,
his neha anette
Pe ea VS
52 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
12th A.—He simply said he was going to make a statement.
(Objection by counsel for defendant to that affidavit or paper
with alleged statement, the Court holds that the statement made
to Mr. Brown shall go to the jury, but, that the statement made
to Mr. Shamblen may be excluded from the jury.) ;
At this point the Prosecuting Attorney asks that the hatchet,
mattock and missiles be offered in evidence. Objection by coun-
sel for defendant. Court asks if they were found close to the scene
of the murder; is answered in the affirmative by Prosecuting
Attorney. Court over-rules the objection made by counsel for
defendant.
Mr. E. 1. Rudman recalled by the State, says:
Ist O.—If vou have refreshed your mind in reference to any
uther conversation, had when you and Mr. Brown went there in
relation to the statement before it Was, or that the defendant said.
that vou have not stated before?
Ist A.-~As I sat down on the log probably two and one-half
or three feet from Morgan, and was opening up the valise I had
to get some paper, there was some six or eight men came up to
the bars, then commenced talking in a low tone of voice. and ]
motioned behind me for them to keep still and keep back; Mr.
Shinn and Shamblen went to make them keep back, and Mr.
Morgan says: “T want to make a full statement of this affair, I
want to tell all about it.” J kept my eyes on him, for I was a
little afraid he might draw back and hit me with his hand-cuffs.
Mr. Shinn and Shamblen were not present at that time. .
6th Q.-~By the Court: State if Mr. Shinn or Shamblen were
present while this statement in writing, as detailed, was made?
6th A.—Yes, part of the time one or the other was present,
either of them was present all the time, but part of the time one
or the other was present.
aes stcameae
eho ae
Sm weep
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 53
TESTIMONY OF MISS ALICE PFOST.
Miss Alice Pfost, being duly sworn in behalf of the State,
says:
Ist Q.—As distinctly as you can, give your name?
Ist A.—Alice Pfost.
2d Q.—Where have you resided ?
24 A.—On Grass Lick.
3d QO.—With whom?
3d A.—My mother, sister and half brother.
+th Q.—Will you please give the name of your mother?
4th A.—Chloe Greene.
oth O.—Grass Lick is in this County?
Sth A.—Yes, sir. 3 :
bth Q.—Are you and have you been for some time acquainted
with John Morgan?
6th A—Yes, sir, for about five years and over, he stayed
with us for over five years.
7th O.—When did you last see John Morgan?
7th Me Wedgeeday morning, of course.
Sth O.-—He stayed at your house on Tuesday night?
Sth A.—Yes, sir.
Yth O.—Could you state to the jury im vour own, as short a
way as you desire, what took place there on Wee ah
ing? Take your time and nerve yourself and say to the jury just
what took place ?
9th A.—On Wednesday morning, we got up a little before
3d o'clock; my brother and John Morgan got up a while after we
all got up, and he followed my poor little brother out pp Eee hog-
pen to feed the hogs and murdered him, I know he ea for he
never ‘eapie back, and John Morgan came back, went in, and
talked to mother and us awhile, and when my sister and me went to
get breakfast he followed us out into the kitchen and stood around
out there,and as my sister was making bread for breakfast he struck
do Wh. labnanb seo
50 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
the wagon on some hay, with his feet strapped and his hands tied
with hand-cuffs; we took him, and I deputized an officer; he and
myself helped him over the fence and lifted him along, until we
got down to the fence next to the house; his actions were very
strange; he was making a noise, hissing, tearing his clothes;
occasionally he would halloo; he would spit at one, and different
things like, and kind of grinning and hissing all the time; that
lasted until we got him down to ‘the fence near the garden, and
the crowd gathered around us so extensively, I thought the best
thing to do was to disperse the crowd, so I got the fellows we had
there to take him around by the creek and around towards the
barn past the bars, and then I went to get the crowd to stand back ;
I told him and Mr. Shamblen to sit down there aud wait until I
came back.
4th Q.—State, if you at any time during the time he was in
your custody, or in the custody of any other person, if you heard
any promises of protection or by any other inducenient made to
him to make any statement in this matter?
4th A.—When I left him on this log, to make that plain, I
left Mr. Shamblen, there with him, while I went to disperse
and keep the crowd back: I was gone perhaps ten or fifteen
minutes, Mr. Shamblen called me to him, and when I come back,
Mr. Shamblen told ine that John wanted to make a confession,
and tell just what had happened there; that is the first I knew
what had happened there; that is the first I tad heard of eae |
says, ] will step down here and call Mr. Perry Greene, which I
did, and stationed some other parties to keep back the crowd,
and then sat down by him; he says, I want the crowd kept away ;
he says, I am ready to pay the debt, but I want to be protected ;
I says, “I will protect you at all risks;” that I would protect
him best I could there, as far as I could, that is all the induce-
ment, if that is an inducement, that I offered him.
ee te
wapiremen 4:9
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. ol
Cross EXAMINATION.
oth Q.—What was said by Mr. Shamblen to him, if anything,
about this crime, before you got to where you set him down?
oth A.--There was not anything.
6th Q.— What was said after you got him down there in your
presence, if anything?
6th A.—When I left him and Mr. Shamblen there, he was
not talking: he would not talk.
7th Q.—What was said when you went back to him?
7th A.—It was just as I have stated; Mr. Shamblen called
me and said Mr. Morgan wanted to make a statement, and I just
stepped back and asked Mr. Morgan if he would have any objec-
tion to some persons being present; he said he would have no
objection to Perry Greene being present, but to keep the rest of
the folks back.
Sth Q.—Did you reply to him, when he said that he wanted
to make a statement? :
Sth A.—I won’t say positively ; but I might have said that
it was the right thing for him to do or something like that; I.
might have said, I won’t be positive about that.
‘th Q—How long after you might have said it was the
right thing to do, was this statement made?
%th A.—It was probably not more than a minute after Mr.
Greene stepped over the bars, until he commenced.
10th Q.—You were called first by Mr. Shamblen, and he
related to you that Mr. Morgan wanted to make a statement?
10th A.—Yes, sir.
11th Q—And possibly you said it was the right thing to do?
llth A.—Yes, sir, I think I said something like that.
RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION.
12th Q.—When Mr. Shamblen said that Morgan wanted to
make a statement, he did not say what he intended to state,
did he?
neces AN!
en
ji pale Sas Sipe Re PS peat eae
46 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
Brown and Mr. Shinn; he said that when I told him it would be
better to straighten up and tell all he knew about the affair, that
no one believed but what he was sane.
11th Q.—Had Mr. Shinn come to you before Mr. Brown?
11th A.—I called Mr. Shinn.
12th Q.—Had Mr. Shinn offered any inducement stating that
it would be better for him to make a statement, and tell all about
the affair?
12th A.—I don’t think he did. I think I called him and
told him Mr. Morgan wanted to make a statement of it, and I
think that Mr. Shinn called to Perry Greene, as well as I remem-
ber, told Perry Greene that he was going to make a confession if
he wanted to hear it, and I think he told Mr. Morgan that Perry
aot
_ Greene would be present.
13th Q.—Was this conversation you had with the prisoner,
“had in relation to the matter regarding his insanity or regarding
his confession that he was going to give? You say you told him
it would be better for him to straighten up. Did-that apply to
some question of his insanity, or did it apply to the facts he was
going to state?
13th A.—When I first was talking to him, I told him it
would be better for him not to go on that way, that it was the
opinion of everybody that he was just putting it on.
14th QO.—Was that in regard to straightening up or the
confession that he was going to make?
14th A.—That was in regard to straightening up, the con-
fession came afterward. I think I told Mr. Morgan afterwards
if there was any one else interested in the crime that it would be
better and right for him to tell all he knew about it.
15th QO.—Did you tell him it would be better for him to
make a confession ?
15th A.—No, sir.
16th Q.—Does the Court understand from you that you told
him it would be better for him to straighten up and not feign
insanity ?
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 47
16th A.—I told him I thought it would be better to
straighten up and tell all he knew about the matter.
(The Court rules that the conversations had between the
witness and the defendant will be excluded from the jury, but the
statement made there before Mr. Brown is regarded as proper to
go before the jury. To all of which the counsel for defendant
objects. The Court requests that he be handed the paper. to
read.)
MISS ALICE PFOST, Sister of Matilda, who escaped.
(Taken from a portrait shortly after she was wounded.)
TESTIMONY OF B. L. RUDMAN.
B. L. Rudman, fifth witness adduced by the State, being
duly sworn, says:
ist O.—Does that look like your handwriting?
1st A.—Yes, sir.
KARAM Oe
48 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
2d Q.—State under what circumstances you wrote it?
2d A.—I was acting as secretary for the Coroner, Mr. D. A.
Brown, upon this case. I wrote this statement as it appears.
3d Q.—By the Court: Under what circumstances?
3d A.—When Mr. Brown related to him, before this was
taken, that he would not take his statement under any promise
of protection. I believe he used about the same language as is
embodied in the statement, word for word.
4th Q.—Who signed the defendant’s name to this paper?
4th A.-J. F. Morgan, the defendant.
Paper in question is read to the Court and jury.
“cc : . -
I, John Morgan, being sworn by D. A. Brow :, Coroner of .-
Jackson County, W. Va., says: Iam sworn at my own requesi
and make this statement under oath free and voluntary, oa I
further say that the same is not extorted from me, nor made bry
me through any promise in the future. I killed Jinimie Greene,
Mrs. Greene and Matilda Pfost, on the morning of Wednesday,
the 3d day of November, 1897. It was between 4 o'clock and
daylight of said morning. I killed Matilda first, the old lady
second and Jimmie at the hog-pen. I killed them in self defense.
I done the crime in defending myself.
“ Signed, J. F. MorGAn.”
“Taken, sworn to and subscribed before me this November
9 O° .
dd, 1897. Signed, D. A. Brown,
Coroner of Jackson County, West Virginia.”
(Exceptions to the rulings of the Court and to the reading of
the affidavit.)
Sth Q.—Were you acquainted with these people in their life
time?
oth A.—No, sir.
6th Q.—This statement was made where?
6th A.—Just back at the side of the barn near where the
tragedy occurred.
2) satan
seed
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 49
Cross EXAMINATION.
7th QO.—Were you present when I came up to the defendant
there where this paper was made?
wth A.—Yes, I was standing right with you.
8th Q.—Did you hear the statement that Mr. Shamblen made
as to what was said when I came up there?
8th A.—No, sir, I don’t just remember what Mr. Shamblen
said, you and Mr. Shamblen was a little away from me, and I did
not hear it.
th QO.—-You heard the conversation that I directed to the
defendant ?
th A.—Yes, sir.
10th Q.—State to the Court whether I said to him on that
occasion, that 1f any one had made him any promises of any kind
or offered him any inducement or held out any threats that |
would not take the statement ?
10th A.—I understood you to say that you would not take
the statement under any promise of protection.
11th Q.—Did I make the statement that I would not take.
the statement if any promises had been held out to him?
11th A.—No, sir.
TESTIMONY OF. J. GO SHEN.
J. O. Shinn, Sheriff, being duly sworn, says:
Ist Q.—Are you the present High Sheriff of this county ?
Ist A.—Yes, sir.
2d Q.—Did you have control of Mr. Morgan on the day tol-
lowing this tragedy on the ground there ?
‘2d A.—I did.
3d Q.—What was his course of conduct when you got him
into your possession ?
3d A.—When he was brought down to the wagon, I went up
to the road and took charge of him; he was laying on the bed of
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70 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
death, and your welfare hereafter. It would be as much as you
can do to atone for the wrong which the Court is satisfied you
have cominitted. You may give an entire statement of the facts,
but nothing which you can say will extenuate your guilt or re-
lease you from the sentence that is to be passed upon you. Be-
tween you and your God, however, there is a statement you can
make, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
The jury in this case, Mr. Morgan, has performed its duty: it is
done within the bounds of the law. and now it becomes, under the
law, the duty of this Court to pass the sentence of death upon -
you. The Court approaches this task as reverentially to God, in
a different spirit from which you passed the sentence of death
upon those helpless victims, for whose murder you are now con-
_victed. The Court approaches it with all pity, with all possible
mercy. The Court has no eyes to see, no tongue to speak, no
heart to feel, but that is given him by the law and is rever-
ential to God in this very trying ordeal; that it is so, you have
had a fair, full and impartial trial, the counsel of your own selec-
tion has been assigned you by the Court, who has discharged his
duty to the last degree, so far as your interests are concerned, in
the best manner possible. The public will not, and certainly do
not, look upon the counsel which the Court assigned, and who only
acted because the Court asked him to do so, with no disrespect.
It is right under the law for all persons to have a full, fair
and impartial trial, assisted by counsel. It was, indeed, a cour-
ageous act on the part of counsel. The Court assumes that the
counsel acted courteously and done the best that could be done
for you.
In this moment you should be very grateful to that wife,
who has clung to you, stayed by you through this trying ordeal;
it would not have required more courage for that woman to have
faced a lion’s den than to have faced the public feeling caused in
this matter; she has honorably done so, and it is one more
monument to the character of noble womanhood; granted that
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 71
this woman has done so, it only renews in the bosom of this
Court the feeling that if the mother of our Saviour had not been
a woman, his blood, perhaps, would not have been sufficient to
extenuate the sins of the world. The Court cannot pardon you
any more than under the law; if he could, he doubts whether it
would be to your advantage to be acquitted of a crime of this
kind; it certainly would be doing the public a great wrong to
turn you loose upon this community with all the savagery you
have shown yourself to be possessed of. Other crimes would be
committed; it would again follow that others would share the
same fate as these helpless victims. ‘The Court does not desire
to talk longer upon this subject. The sentence of this Court is:
“That you shall be confined in the county jail of this county
until the 10th day of the coming December, 1807, and on that
day and on that date that you be taken from the county jail of
this county by the Sheriff of this county, and hanged by the
neck until you are dead, dead, dead: and may God have mercy
upon your soul.” Return the prisoner to the jail.”
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Ceca hate Teoh ibs dae capa akseesanan ti
FRI
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY,
ON THE MORNING OF THE DEED.
The surviving member of the family, Miss Alice Pfost, made
the following sworn statement in writing before Coroner D.-A.
Brown, which best tells of the dreadful affair :
“Tam Alice Pfost, the daughter of Mrs. Chloe Greene, who,
as Tam informed, lics a corpse at her residence. One John Mor-
san came to our house about 6 o'clock last evening. He came
in and talked.as usual. He had lived at our house for over five
vears. He claimed to mother that he came after a coat pattern -
for Ofa Parsons, who was living at his (Morgan's) house. He
talked on awhile and requested my sister Matilda to shingle his
hair. My sister refused to cut his hair after night. He (Morgan)
then wanted to know that if he stayed all night whether she would
cut his hair the next morning. She told him she reckoned she
could. We all went to bed quietly. He (Morgan) and’ my
brother Jimmy Greene got up as usual. He (Morgan) talked
just as friendly and sensible as he ever was. My brother went to
feed the hogs and Morgan with him. Then Morgan came back
in the house and Jimmy was not with him. . Then ma reinarked,
“It is curious’ that Jimmy has not returned to the house.” Tillie
and I talked about my brother not coming to. the house. Tillie
and I went into the kitchen to get breakfast, and Morgan was
out in the other room with ma. Then Morgan walked out of the
house three times and back. Morgan came back the last time
and said to my sister that he heard Jimmy whistling down in the
field. I went out and listened, but I could nut hear him. Then
Morgan came in the kitchen where Tillie and I were getting
breakfast. He stood around in there, which was unusual for him.
My sister and I took the lamp out to the milk house to get
milk to make bread with. Morgan remained in the kitchen and
was there when we returned. I went to mixing the bread on my
return and Morgan went to the porch and whistled once. My
sister was at the stove in the kitchen. As she turned to pass
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 73
between me and Morgan, Morgan struck her and she staggered
back and said, “Oh, John, don’t killime. She staggered back and
caught the table, then Morgan struck her again. Before Morgan
struck my sister the first blow he was standing by the wood box,
and there was a hatchet in the box.
After the second blow my sister ran out on the porch. Then
Morgan struck me on the head. I fell back by the table. At
this time my sister on the porch was screaming for help. Then
Morgan jumped to the door to either lock the door or to keep my
sister from coming back in. I.rose up and ran ont through the
closet into the sitting room and out at that door. As I passed
through the sitting room door I saw Morgan coming through the
closet. My mother was back in the bed room. I went out. I
was afraid yhat some one else might come, for the reason that
Morgan went out on the porch before that and whistled. Then I
sat down behind a pile of boards out of sight of Morgan. Then
I was so afraid that I went into one corner of the chicken house.
While I was in there the thought came to me that I had better
go for help.
We had suspisioned Morgan before. He came to our house on
last Friday morning about 1 o’clock and awoke my brother Jimmy
and said to him that he had two coons treed and wanted mv
brother to go with his gun and shoot them. He got my brother
up and he went out with Morgan. He asked my brother as they
passed the stable whether my ma had received fifty dollars that
she was to get for a colt. Jimmy told him she had not. Then
Morgan asked him if he knew when the note was due. Morgan
and my brother only went as far as the hay stacks and Morgan
said they would go no further. This was told me by my brother
Jimmy, who they say now lies dead at the hog-pen. I left the
house and came to Mr. John Chancey’s. When I got to the bars
I heard my sister scream for me to come back and get the gun.
After I got on further I heard my mother and sister both scream.
I came right on to Mr. Chancey’s. ALICE PFOST.
PARSE OTR 8
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
HON. REESE BLIZZARD, Judve of the Circuit Court.
Hon. Reese Blizzard, Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of
West Virginia, who presided at the trial of John F. Morgan, is
a gentleman of fine legal and literary attainments. Born in
Nicholas County, West Virginia, thirty-three years ago, he at-
tended the public schools and then entered the State Normal
School, in which institution he made a high and honorable record.
After graduation, he engaged in the study of law and was ad-
mitted to the bar at Glenville, Gilmer County, West Virginia, in
1886. Later he located at Grantsville in the adjoining county of
Calhoun, where he speedily took front rank in his profession.
His ability as a practitioner and his profound knowledge of the
law brought him into prominence, and having received the
nomination of his party for the office of Judge of the Circuit
Court, he was elected to that position on the 3d day of Novem-
ber, 1897, carrying his own county by seven hundred and forty-
two votes, in the face of the fact that in the said county there
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. (9
was a majority of nearly one thousand votes against the ticket on
which he was a candidate.
In pronouncing the death sentence upon John F. Morgan,
Judge Blizzard for the first time discharged this painful task ; but
he approached it with determination to do, faithfully, his whole
duty. His statement to the prisoner will be found elsewhere in
the proceedings of the Court. :
Judge Blizzard is the youngest Circuit Judge in the State.
He has already shown that ability is not conditional upon age
alone; heshas entered upon a career which is not yet completed—
a career which in the end will prove alike honorable to himself
and the State...
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HON. JAMES A. SEAMAN, Prosecuting Attorney of Jackson County.
Hon. James A. Seaman, who as Prosecuting Attorney for
Jackson County, represented the State at the trial of John F. Mor-
gan, and thus was instrumental in securing the conviction of him
whose butchery of the Pfost family stands without a parallel in
the criminal history of the State, was born in July, 1844, at West
Columbia, Mason County, Virginia—now West Virginia—where
his parents were prominent factors in developing the social life
of that county. Mr. Seaman has been a student all his life, and
in addition to being remarkably well read is schooled in a
knowledge of men—the highest type of education. Ready de-
bating, logical speaking and clear thinking, are among the ele-
ee veer ee es ee aaa
siete arallbsesd ssieeat ios Seaiisca ibis Paes relia
76 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
ments which have enabled him to rise to a most honorable posi-
tion in his profession——that of law, in the practice of which he
engaged in 1876, he having been admitted to the bar at Ripley
in that year.
He is an earnest, diligent lawyer, is able at the bar’ and
stands very high in his profession. He was elected Prosecuting
Attorney of Jackson County in 1888, defeating for that office one
of the most popular lawyers of the State by a large majority. In
1806, his party again nominated him for the same office without
opposition, in the election which followed, he defeated his oppo-
nent who was running for re-election, and was thus chosen to fill
the office he now holds. In every walk in life he has made an
honorable record, and thus enjoys the confidence and approbation
of the people among whom he lives.
HON. DAVID A. BROWN, Counsel for the Defendant.
Hon. David A. Brown, whom the Court appointed to defend
John F. Morgan, is one of the prominent members of the Jackson
County bar. Born on the 24th day of July, 1854, his life has
been an exemplification of what an American boy of pluck can
do, when he so wills. Mr. Brown was married on the 15th day
of April, 1877, and alone, and unaided, he purchased a farm of
fifty-four acres, which he began to improve, and at the same time
he engaged in the study of law at his country home. His prog-
ress was rapid. Removed to Spencer, the seat of justice of
Roane County, where in March, 1879, he was admitted to the
bar, and in October, 1880, was elected Prosecuting Attorney for
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 77
the county. In this capacity, he served the full term of four
years, acquitting himself most honorably in the discharge of his
duties. From Spencer, he removed to Ripley, in February,
1891, and in November, 1892, he was elected Prosecuting
Attorney of Jackson County, where his official duties were dis-
charged as faithfully as they had been in Roane County, and this
means that they were performed in a manner entirely satis-
factory to the people. In addition to other duties, Mr. Brown
has filled the position of United States Commisioner for five
years, and that he still continues to discharge the duties of this
position, may be taken as evidence that the government Is satis-
fied with the manner in which he does this.
MR. J. O. SHINN, High Sheriff of Jackson County.
Mr. J. O. Shinn, the High Sheriff of Jackson County, who
has had charge of John F. Morgan, ever since the hour of his
arrest, is a gentleman of excellent business qualifications and
sterling character. He is a representative of one of the oldest
and most influential families of the State. His remote ancestors
were settlers in the valley of the South Branch of the Potomac,
(Unconfirmed, )
"BACH, Adam, was murdered in Wheeling, W. Va.,
recently by Robert Pool who was found guilty of
murder in the first degree." OBITUARIES FROM
TENNESSEE NEWSPAPERS, compiled by Jill L, Gar-
rett, 1980, Easley, S. C., SOUTHERN HISTORICAL
PRESS. Page 9, quoting Nashville DISPATCH of
Octe 26, 1862,
EXECUTED on 8-13-1868 at Wheeling WV. Whtte man, age 20.
Vietim was a saloon-keeper. On 8-9-62 Pool was on a binge
with some buddies and got tnto an argument with victim's
wife. When vtetim intervened, Pool shot him. Died stx days
Later. Publte execution on a hillstde plateau outstde of
town. Gallows was burned after use in accordance with local
custom. THE WHEELING DAILY INTELLIGENCER 3-14-63 page 4
si PARSE MERU AH a see
14
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0 W. Va. 51 SOUTH EASTERN
sought to be admitted in evidence was used
in the perpetration of the crime charged in
the indictment, it may be admitted and pro-
duced for the inspection of the jury.
3. It is not reversible error in a prose-
cution for murder for the trial court, at the
Conclusion of the preliminary examination,
bearing on the competency of an infant
witness, to state in the presence of the jury:
“This seems to be a very bright boy for his
age. Son, when they ask you questions you
just tell the truth.”
4. Ina criminal prosecution, the fail-
ure of the trial court to require that an in-
fant witness be sworn before testifying on
the merits of a case, though the witness has
been “first duly sworn” before preliminary
examination concerning his competency,
does not constitute. reversible error.
5. Though it is the duty of the trial
judge ina criminal trial to pass on the com-
petency of an infant witness to testify and
personally. to examine such witness on the
question of his competency, his failure to
do so is not reversible error, where, in the
presence of the court, such preliminary
examnination was conducted by the prose-
cuting attorney in a painstaking manner,
whereby the. witness’ competency was fully
established.
6. Ina trial for murder, in which de-
fendant relies upon and introduces substan-
tial evidence in support of the defense of
calibi, and the court gives an instruction of-
fered by the defendant fully covering the
question of alibi, it is not error to instruct
the jury that “* * * if the prisoner,
with a deadly weapon in his possession,
without any or upon very slight provoca-
tion, gives to another a deadly wound,
the prisoner is prima facie guilty of
wilful, deliberate and premeditated killing,
x * *”, Such instruction does not tend
to impress the jury that the defendant was
present at the time and place of the homi-
cide.
Error to Circuit Court, Logan County.
Bud Peterson was convicted of murder
in the first degree. To review judgment. of
sentence, he brings writ of error.
Affirmed.
REPORTER, 2d SERIES
Damron & Damron, W. F. Damron and
O. D. Damron, all of Logan, for plaintiff
in error.
Ira J. Partlow, Atty. Gen., and W. C.
Marland, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant
in error. ;
RILEY, President.
The defendant, Bud Peterson, charged
with the murder of Bessie Wright on June
29, 1947, was convicted in the Circuit Court
of Logan County of murder of the first
degree without recommendation, and sen-
tenced to be hanged. To this judgment of
sentence, he prosecutes this writ of error.
Defendant came to the State of West
Virginia from the State of Alabama in
1920, From 1925 until the time of his ar-
rest for the alleged homicide, he had been
continuously employed as a coal miner in
Logan County, and when arrested he was
living in the town of Riley, in Logan Coun-
ty, located approximately fifteen miles from
the City of Logan. A bonus having been
paid to the miners on June 28, 1947, Peter-
son, as well as other miners in Logan Coun-
ty, did not work.
At the trial, in order to controvert the
State’s position that defendant -shot and
killed decedent, defendant set up an alibi
as his sole defense. It therefore becomes
necessary to review the evidence in this
case, bearing on the question of defendant’s
whereabouts at the time and place of the
homicide.
According to the State’s evidence, de-
‘fendant was in the vicinity of the town of
Riley from about 2 o’clock in the afternoon
of June 28, 1947, until the time he was ar-
rested about 2 o’clock in the morning of the
following day. About midnight of June
28, he came to the home of William Mc-
Creery, whose home adjoins the house in
which decedent, Bessie Wright, resided,
and in which she met her death, and tried
to borrow $5 for the purpose of entering
a poker game. Upon his request being re-
fused, he stated that he would go to the
Wright home and get the money “or raise
sand.” Defendant then left the McCreery
home, and was seen by McCreery and his
wife to proceed across the lot between
the two houses and then go up on decedent’s
porch. According to McCreery, who is
ee ried
STATE v. PETERSON
W. Va. 81
Cite as 51 S.E.2d 78
corroborated in substantial detail by his
wife, defendant “hollered and knocked on
the door”, Receiving no answer, he yelled
that if decedent did not open the door, “he
would take an axe and knock the damn
thing down.” But still receiving no re-
sponse, he tore the screen off the window,
raised the window, and went into the house.
McCreery said that he was able to see de-
fendant because there was a light over a
sign between the two houses, and defend-
ant evidently had turned on a light in de-
cedent’s kitchen, so that the witness “could
see in there.’ Mrs. McCreery testified
that, by a light on decedent’s porch, she
could see defendant on the porch trying
to push in the door leading into the house,
and that he went to the window, pried off
the screen, opened the window, and entered
the house, Both witnesses testified that
shortly thereafter they heard a shot, and
after a short interval two more shots. In
a short time deceased’s two sons, George
Wright, Jr., age 7, and Bowzer Wright,
age 5, came running across the lot to the
McCreery house and informed the Mc-
Creerys that their mother had been shot.
Thereupon, McCreery went to the dece-
dent’s home, where he found decedent’s
body lying on the floor of the upstairs
bedroom. He then went to a nearby
house, where decedent’s estranged husband
was living, and told him what had happened.
The sheriff and an ambulance were called,
the ambulance -arriving about an hour
later. At the trial, George, the older of the
two boys, testified that he “saw” the de-
fendant fire the shots which killed his
mother,
Also according to the State’s evidence,
defendant was seen in a car driven by one
Isaac Martin, and shortly thereafter, while
defendant was walking along the road, he
was arrested by a deputy sheriff, taken to
the room in which decedent’s body was
lying, and then to jail.
One Dennis Bradford testified that he
was an occupant of the Martin car at.the
time defendant was also an occupant, and
Shortly after defendant left the car, he
found a gun, which he kept for some time
until, upon request of the State Police, he
turned it over to them.
51 S.E.2d—6
According to all of the State’s witnesses,
the shooting occurred some time between
12:30 and 1:00 o’clock in the morning ox
June 29, 1947. The McCreerys testified
that defendant came to their house about
midnight. Luther Creasey, who lived in
a house next door to the McCreerys on the
side opposite from that of the house occu-
pied by Bessie Wright, testified that he
heard three shots shortly before defendant
was arrested; and he fixed the time of the
shooting at exactly 12:45 a. m., at which
time he set his watch by the radio. Richard
Herald, deputy sheriff, testified that be-
tween 12:30 and 1:00 o’clock in the morning
of June 29, he received a call concerning
the shooting in the office of a justice of the
peace at Man, and that he drove directly
to the Wright house, arriving there before
the ambulance.
On the other hand State’s witness, Isaac
Martin, testified that he, together with
State’s witness, Dennis Bradford, picked
up defendant between 11:30 and midnight
on June 28—not later than a little after
midnight; that with Bradford sitting in the
front seat and defendant in the back seat,
they drove to Riley, where the ambulance
and other cars were seen in the vicinity of
the Wright house; and that defendant re-
mained in the Martin car until after they
left the scene of the homicide. Shortly aft-
er leaving the vicinity of the Wright house,
defendant left the car at Martin’s request.
Witness then drove the car a short dis-
tance farther along the road with Bradford
still sitting in the front seat. Then turning
back toward the place where defendant
had alighted, he saw defendant standing at
the side of the road under arrest.
In general the testimony of defendant
and State witnesses, Bradford and Martin,
bearing on the question of defendant’s
whereabouts from the time he entered the
car until his arrest coincides in substantial
detail, but according to the State’s evidence,
it took more than an hour for the ambu-
lance to gct to the scene of the shooting,
and, according to defendant’s evidence,
Martin picked up defendant around mid-
night on June 28, and arrived at the scene
of the shooting after the arrival of the
ambulance. So there is a clear conflict in
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82 W. Va. 51 SOUTH EASTERN
the evidence as to defendant’s whereabouts
at the time of the homicide. As Martin
testified that immediately after the defend-
ant entered Martin’s car at Martin’s home
at Bracholm; a distance which he estimated
between one-half and three-quarters of @
mile from Riley, he proceeded directly to
Riley, which he said required between fif-
teen and twenty-five minutes, and the fact
that he arrived at the Wright home after
the ambulance strongly indicates that he
and Bradford did not encounter defendant
until about an hour after midnight on June
29, in which event there would be almost
an hour of defendant’s time not accounted
for, and the jury would have the right to
believe that Martin and Bradford were
mistaken as to the time they met defendant
and that, in fact, defendant was taken into
the Martin car after the homicide was
committed. So we think that the evidence
is such as to justify the jury in disbeliev-
ing defendant’s alibi, as it evidently did.
During the course of the trial, George
Wright, Jr., age seven, was given the oath
regularly administered to adult witnesses,
and, without any preliminary or other ex-
amination on the part of the trial court, was
examined by the prosecuting attorney on
the question of his competency as a witness,
and then subjected to direct examination
by the prosecuting attorney. Finally, he
was cross-examined on behalf of the de-
fendant by the latter’s attorneys. On direct
examination the witness testified that he and
his brother were at home on the night their
mother was killed; that after they had gone
to bed in the room occupied by their moth-
er, some one was heard coming up the
stairs; that he saw the defendant turn on
the light in the bedroom, that defendant
had a gun in his hand, which witness testi-
fied he had seen before; that defendant
asked decedent to give him some money,
threatening that if she did not he would
shoot her; and that after decedent told
defendant she did not have any money,
defendant fired one shot at decedent, and
thereupon the children went under the bed;
and that then one more shot was fired,
causing decedent, who was standing up,
to fall to the floor. When, according to
George’s testimony, the children heard de-
fendant go out the screen door, they came
REPORTER, 2d SERIES
from under the bed, looked at their mother
who was lying on the floor, tried to talk
to her, but eliciting no response, they went
to the McCreery home.
Immediately before and at the conclusion
of the preliminary examination conducted
by the prosecuting attorney, bearing on
the competency of the infant witness,
George Wright, Jr., defendant’s counsel
objected to the witness testifying and the
court, upon overruling the objection made
at the close of the preliminary examination,
ruled that the witness was competent to
testify, and, without objection on defend-
ant’s part or motion that the jury be in-
structed to disregard the remark, stated in
the presence of the jury: “This seems to be
a very bright boy for his age. Son, when
they ask you questions you just tell the
truth.” ;
[1-3] After a careful consideration of
the evidence in this case, we are of opinion
that it is sufficient for the jury to have
found, as it did, that the defendant, Bud
Peterson, is guilty of the wilful, deliberate,
premeditated and unlawful killing of the
decedent, Bessie Wright; and further we
are of the opinion that it was for the jury
to find that the defendant, Bud Peterson,
did not establish by a preponderance of the
evidence defendant’s defense of an alibi,
and there being substantial evidence tending
to prove the actual presence of the accused
at the place where, and at the time when,
the crime was committed, the conviction
should stand, unless other alleged errors
apear in the record. State v. Lowry, 42
W.Va. 205, 24 S.E. 561; State v. Aliff, 122
W.Va. 16, 7 S.E.2d 27.
The defendant assigns five main grounds
of error, which for convenience will be
considered seriatim : The trial court erred:
(1) In admitting (a) the testimony of
George Wright, Sr., concerning Bud Peter-
son visiting Bessie Wright after she and
her husband began to live separate and
apart; (b) the testimony of William Mc-
Creery identifying a pistol which witness
had not seen on the day of the homicide and
could not state positively that it was used
by the defendant in committing the homi-
cide; and (c) the testimony of George
Wright, Jr., age seven, whose competency
as a witness defendant asserts was not es-
tes RE Face :
STATE v. PETERSON W. Va. as
Cite as 51 8.B.2d 78 :
tablished; (2) in stating, without any ob-
jection on defendant’s part, on ruling that
George Wright, Jr., was competent to testi-
fy, “This seems to be a very bright boy
for his age. Son, when they ask you ques-
tions you just tell the truth.”; (3) in per-
mitting George Wright, Jr., without ob-
jection by defendant, to be sworn prior to
his preliminary examination, and failing to
‘cause the witness to be sworn after such
prelminary examination was completed;
(4) in permitting the prosecuting attorney
to examine the infant, George Wright, Jr.,
on the preliminary or test examination and
by failing to conduct such examination him-
self; and (5) in giving State’s instruction
No. 1, without incorporating in that instruc-
tion defendant’s defense of alibi.
[4] The testimony of George Wright
concerning the defendant’s visiting Bessie
Wright after she and her husband began to
live apart, in our opinion, does not consti-
tute prejudicial error. This testimony is
relevant to show that defendant knew
Bessie Wright intimately, and, therefore,
tends to render more credible the testimony
of the McCreerys that defendant went to
Bessie Wright’s house late in the night.
True, Wright was asked: “What was the
cause of the trouble between you and your
wife Bessie”, to which the witness an-
swered “Couldn't get along”, But this
question and answer were not objected to,
and though objections were made to the
State’s inquiry whether any man or woman
was involved in the Wright’s domestic
trouble, and whether witness had ever seen
Bud Peterson in the Wright home after
the separation, these inquiries did not con-
nect the defendant with the separation be-
tween husband and wife, and the other
questions addressed to the witness as to the
frequency of defendant’s visiting the
Wright home after the separation went into
the record without objection.
[5,6] Since the defendant in the first
instance introduced into evidence the sub-
ject of pistols and the fact that the defend-
ant had owned one, and the pistol shown to
the witness was later connected with the
commission of the alleged crime, the intro-
duction of McCreery’s testimony did not
serve, in our opinion, to prejudice defend-
ant. Especially is this so because the wit-
ness testified, without objection or motion to
strike, that the pistol exhibited to him was °
just like the one he saw in Bud Peterson’s
possession, “If it is the one it has been
rubbed and shined up.” The pistol which -
was exhibited in the court room was found
by Dennis Bradford in the Isaac Martin
car soon after the defendant got out of the
car on the morning of the homicide. Both
Martin and Bradford testified that they had
not placed the pistol in the car. The de-
fendant himself testified that he owned a
pistol, and the witness, George Wright, Jr.,
testified that he had seen the pistol with
which defendant killed his mother in de-
fendant’s possession in the Wright home
on several previous occasions. So we think
there is sufficient evidence from which the
jury could believe that the gun taken from
the Martin car belonged to defendant, and
that it had been used by defendant to kill
Bessie Wright. It is not necessary in the
trial of an indictment for murder that the
instrument purported to have been used in
the commission of the crime be established
beyond peradventure. It is sufficient if the
evidence tends to show that the instrument
was used in the perpetration of a crime,
and upon such showing it may be produced
for the inspection of the jury. State v.
Henry, 51 W.Va. 283, 41 S.E, 439.
[7] We find no error as to the testi-
mony of George Wright, Jr. He was fully
examined by the prosecuting attorney
without objection by defendant on the ques-
tion of his competency as a witness. True,
in the preliminary examination by the
prosecuting attorney, the witness testified
that in Sunday School he learned that the
devil gets people who sometimes do not
tell the truth. But, in State v. Farley,
125 W.Va. 266, 23.S.E.2d 616, a child eight
years of age who testified that “She realized
she would go to the ‘boogerman’ if she did
not tell the truth” and refused several times
to respond to questions which she did not
understand, was held qualified to testify.
In the instant case, this little boy, only
seven years of age, testified on the prelimi-
nary examination bearing on his competen-
cy as a witness that he was in the second
grade at school and had attended Sunday
School. He gave the names of his teacher
i
Sale Serna
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84 W. Va. 61 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
in the first grade and in the second grade, reversible. State v. Bragg, 105 W.Va. 36,
and, on request, proceeded to count to 141 S.E. 400.
twenty-four, when he was stopped by coun- [11] The fact that the trial court, with-
- sel. He also successfully solved a simple out objection or motion, failed to cause
This witness was George Wright, Jr., to be sworn prior to
his examination in chief is without merit.
The record disclosing that the witness
prior to giving any testimony was “first
duly sworn”, the oath administered evident-
ly was the conventional one for all wit-
problem in addition,
indeed well qualified to testify.
[8-10], The statement of the trial court
at the conclusion of the preliminary examl-
nation of George Wright, Jr.: “This <7
i e. on
es ag te ee aca tell nesses and is sufficient for all purposes.
the truth” is urged as a ground for reversal, [12,13] That the trial court permitted
No objection or motion that the jury be in- the prosecuting attorney to question the
structed to disregard the remark was made witness, George Wright, Jr., on the test
by defendant’s counsel. We are well aware examination and failed to conduct such
of the rule which prevails in this and other examination himself, is the fourth ground
jurisdictions that though a trial court has of error. Of course, it is the duty of the
a wide discretion in ruling and remarking trial court to pass on the competency of an
on the examination of witnesses, the ad- infant witness, and it is stated in Under-
missibility of testimony, and the conduct hill’s Criminal Evidence, 4th Ed., Section
and statements of counsel, the remark in 377, page 725, that: “Tt is the duty of the
question went somewhat. beyond the prov- court to examine a child witness in order
ince of the court in ruling on the compe- to ascertain if he or she is competent.
tency of the infant witness. Because of the But whether the trial court, in the first
trial judge’s high official position, he should instance, should conduct such examination
be very careful that he does not by inad- is of no moment under the state of this
yertent remarks influence the jury in favor record, because young Wright was fully
of or against a witness’ testimony. Pinn v. and painstakingly given that examination
Commonwealth, 166 Va. 727, 186 S.E. 169; by the prosecuting attorney and counsel
Lee, The Criminal Trial in the Virginias, for defendant did not object to the exami-
2d Ed., Volume 1, Section 165; State v. nation, The trial court, though he failed to,
- Austin, 93 W.Va. 704, 117 S.E. 607; Mus- did not refuse to conduct the examination
grave V. Ku Klux Klan, 102 W.Va. 320, for he was never asked by counsel to do so.
oe 135 SE. 185; State v. Perkins, W.Va, In State Price, 96 W.Va. 498, 123 S.E.
45 S.E.2d 17. And though the remark or 283, a child eight years of age was €X-
ruling objected to may be inadvertent, the amined after having been placed ergs pre-
question for the appellate court is whether liminary cna by ye a OS
the remark or ruling has had a deleterious cuting attorney. No objection in i e tria
effect on the jury. State v. Ownbey, 146 of that case was made to the special prose-
N.C. 677, 61 S.E. 630. But in the instant cuting attorney conducting the examination,
case the court was simply ruling on the and no request was made that the trial court
competency of the witness. Ti order to. SO eee the child. A 1s pet see
permit the witness to testify he had to rule however," to note that e ee prose-
that the witness was intelligent enough to cuting attorney, who conducted that exami
know and understand questions which nation, is counsel for defendant in this case.
would be addressed to him. His remark This ground of ETTQr. not being based upon
was perhaps stecped in language too com- constitutional or jurisdictional ee it
plimentary; but the record here discloses cannot be raised oe igo veg yok on
that the witness was indeed a very bright oe. State ns ~ Fa a ° in 4 yitg
boy for his age, and that he was fully com- nee ogee 2s at Gas 243, 23 ie 28
petent to testify, which was apparent to the ‘ ; ’
jury. However, the failure of defendant’s 233. “8
counsel to object or move for an instruc- [14, 15] Finaliy, defendant complains
tion renders the error, if there be one, non- that the trial court erred in giving to the
STATE v. PETERSON
W. Va. 85
Cite as 51 8.1.20 78
jury State’s instruction No. 1, which reads:
“The Court instructs the jury that a man is
presumed to intend that which he does, or
which is the immediate or necessary con-
sequence of his act, and if the prisoner,
with a deadly weapon in his possession,
without any, or upon very slight provoca-
tion, gives to another a mortal wound, the
prisoner is prima facie guilty of wilful,
deliberate and premeditated killing, and the
necessity rests upon him of showing extenu-
ating circumstances, and unless he proves
such extenuating circumstances, or the
circumstances appear from the case made
by the State, he is guilty of murder in the
first degree. * * *” This instruction
is objected to on this writ of error on the
grounds that: (1) It was calculated to im-
press the jury that the trial court was of
the opinion that defendant was present at
the homicide; (2) the instruction is ab-
stract and has no application to the facts
of this case; and (3) the instruction omits
reference to the defense of alibi. State v.
Clough, 327 Mo. 700, syl. 10, 38 S.W.2d
36; State v. Helms, 131 Tex.Cr. 358, pt. 1,
syl., 99 S.W.2d 303; State v. Hanna, 81
Utah 583, pt. 8, syl., 21 P.2d 537, and several
kindred cases are cited for the proposition
that an instruction which assumes that an
offense was committed, or that certain
elements of an offense were shown, consti-
tutes reversible error, and because the in-
struction does not expressly set up in its
hypothesis defendant’s. defense of alibi, de-
fendant contends that the instruction is
erroneous under the last-mentioned au-
thorities. We agree with counsel for de-
fendant that an instruction should have
reference to the facts in the case on trial.
State v. Witt, 96 W.Va. 268, 122 S.E. 472;
State v. Lane, 116 W.Va. 636, 182 S.E. 784.
But the instruction in question does not
have the vice indicated by counsel for de-
fendant. It does not assume that the de-
fendant was present at the time Bessie
Wright was killed. The pertinent part of
the instruction reads: “* * * if the
prisoner, with a deadly-weapon in his pos-
session, without any or upon very slight
Provocation, gives to another a deadly
wound, the prisoner is prima facie guilty
of wilful, deliberate and premeditated
kiling; 2 * 3 ¥?. This instruction is
based upon the often cited and approved
case of State v. Cain, 20 W.Va. 679, and the
giving of it is not error if it does not as-
sume defendant’s presence at the time and
place of the homicide, but the use of the
word “if” tells the jury that if they believe
that the defendant did the things specified
in the instruction, which the court told the
jury would constitute murder of the first
degree, defendant would be guilty of such
crime. From the instruction the jury could
readily see that if the defendant were not
present at the time of the homicide, he
could not have done those things. So, the
instruction, instead of assuming that de-
fendant was present at the time of the
homicide, and therefore had no alibi, left
the question of alibi open to the considera-
tion of the jury. The instruction, therefore,
is not binding on the question of alibi and
the defense on that ground is fully covered
by defendant’s instruction No. 6, which
reads: “The Court instructs the jury that
the defense in this case is what is called in
law an alibi and that such defense does not
require a preponderance of the evidence,
and if the jury believes from all the evi-
dence and circumstances in this case that
the defendant, Bud Peterson, was at Brae-
holm at the time the killing is alleged to
have been done, then the court instructs
the jury that they should find the defendant
not guilty and the jury is further instructed
that if from the whole evidence they should
entertain a reasonable doubt as to whether
the prisoner, Bud Peterson, was at Riley
& the home of Bessie Wright, at the time
of the alleged killing, that, under the law
it would be their sworn duty to give the
prisoner, Bud Peterson, the benefit of such
doubt and find him not guilty.”
For these reasons we do not think the de-
fendant was prejudiced by the giving of
State’s instruction No. 1, and that defend:
ant was fully protected by the giving of that
instruction, together with his instruction
No. 6.
The foregoing disposes of all the grounds
of error relied upon by defendant's counsel
in their brief, and perceiving no reversible
error in this record, we affirm the judg-
ment of the circuit court.
Affirmed.
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COURTSHIP OF DEATH
(Continued from page 13) Clarksburg,
West Virginia, on the strength of the post-
office box address, asking the arrest of the
man on the warrants he had sworn out.
The Fairmount police, after a hasty
checkup in answer to the wire the chief
had sent there, reported no person by that
name in Fairmount, or receiving mail there.
But in Clarksburg it was different.
Chief of Police Clarence A. Duckworth,
upon receipt of the telegram, detailed City
Detective Carl Southern to investigate.
Southern learned at the post office that
C. O. Pierson had a box there, and some-
times received as many as fifty letters a
day. But the post office did not know
Pierson’s home address and the city di-
rectory did not carry it.
Chief Duckworth and Detective Southern
then set up a watch at the post office.
Three days afterward, on August 27th,
the man they sought—known as Pierson—
came in for mail.
He proved to be Harry F. Powers, aged
forty-two, a veteran of World War I, and
husband of a woman who, with her sister,
ran a store in Clarksburg.
Powers protested his arrest.
Chief Duckworth and Detective Southern
questioned the man. He readily admitted
knowing Mrs. Eicher, but said he had last
heard about her some time before when,
he understood, she was leaving Chicago
for a Western city with one Charles
Rodgers of Pittsburgh.
Powers was somewhat of a drifter, Chief
Duckworth gathered, and of the high-
power salesman type.
After the preliminary questioning of the
prisoner, Chief Duckworth locked him up
and set out to check on his movements
about town.
The Powers home was the first stop. The
officers took possession, searching it from
cellar to the garret. Clothing of women
and children was found—clothing that ap-
peared to have been stained by blood. There
was, too, a man’s crimson-stained sweater.
Upon questioning neighbors, Duckworth
learned that Powers had built a garage in
April at a place called Quiet Dell, five miles
out of town and half a mile off the main
highway. The site, a lonely one, had boasted
a frame cottage for several years. It was
occupied prior to April by Floyd Golden
and his family, who were ordered by Powers
to move. Two days after Golden and his
family left, a mysterious fire razed the cot-
tage, leaving only the hollow tile founda-
tion to mark the spot where the cottage
had been.
Within a few days after the fire, Powers
was on the scene with laborers, clearing
away the debris and building a frame gar-
age on the old foundation. Persons in the
vicinity wondered at the building of a gar-
age so far away from a populated neigh-
borhood.
Chief Duckworth and Detective Southern
found the building and forced an entrance.
There was no trace of an automobile ever
having been stored there, but there were
trunks, handbags, household goods, and
suitcases piled in confusion in the building.
Chief Duckworth started to dump the
contents of the trunks and grips on the
floor. Personal belongings of women flashed
before the eyes of the police.
A lady’s overnight case attracted atten-
tion. In frenzied haste Chief Duckworth
pulled it open. A large packet of letters and
a score of women’s photographs clattered to
the floor. The letters were addressed to
women—or from women—all over the coun-
try. There was one framed photograph of
a man found with the letters. It was an
autographed picture of Henri Eicher, the
late husband of Mrs. Eicher. And there
were medals, bearing his name attesting
to his wresfling skill.
Chief Duckworth and Detective Southern
raced the five miles back to Clarksburg.
Into the police station they rushed, to
confront their prisoner with the damaging
evidence they had uncovered. But instead
of finding a man startled by the statements
of the officers, they found an entirely calm
individual showing no trace of excitement
or disturbance.
“Yes, that’s the clothing of Mrs. Eicher
and her children,” Powers said, but insisted
that the clothing meant nothing.
“They’re all right,” he claimed. “They'll
be found O.K.” He and Mrs. Eicher were
just “good friends,” and the widow looked
to him occasionally for advice on financial
matters, he continued. He had seen her
in Park Ridge recently, and she was pre-
paring to go to Colorado where she ex-
pected to marry the man she called Charles
Rodgers, of Pittsburgh. He saw the chil-
dren off to join their mother several days
afterward, he told Chief- Duckworth.
The chief was sure Powers was not telling
the truth, and prepared for another trip
to the mysterious garage in Quiet Dell.
Two Park Ridge officers arrived about this
time with warrants for the man.
At the garage, splotches on the walls
and floor first attracted the attention of the
officers. However, they were unable to
ascertain whether the stains were from
blood.
The officers tore at the packages, trunks,
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DOUXeS alla SULLCadSES. VV tlie QUilig nis
they uncovered one of the nation’s greats
est mail-order matrimonial games—enough
evidence to indicate that in Powers they
had a man of wealth, with a good ~~ a
and with a large income from oil and gas
royalties in several states. There were pag
sionate love letters from three hundred
women, lovelorn souls who poured o
their hearts to this mail-order Romeo ‘g;
they sought to win the love which he said
was free for the right woman. Fy
There were fifty letters in Powers’ oy i
handwriting, form letters that told over
and over again a story that was false to:
the last word—form letters that indicated |
he was a single man with plenty to offer)
a woman he loved, when in truth he we
a married man, a swindler ‘at best, using
half a dozen different names. Then there!
was Powers’ form letter, the one he had:
sent Mrs. Eicher when he first wrote t@
her. The police had a copy of this letter;*
found in Mrs. Eicher’s Park Ridge garage,?
where Powers—known as Pierson then=3
had packed her furniture.
ai MREENIOE SHEN MEN ch es orev
How many of these women he met, the’
police never found out. But he found@
love-sick women willing and ready to an-4
swer an advertisement which appeared in®
the publication of the American Friendship}
Society.
Finally, convinced by the letters that’
their prisoner was a “love racketeer” on’
a grand scale, the officers turned their at-:
tention again to the stains on the walls and)
floor.
A piece of rope dangled from a rafter!
across the width of the garage. Several]
boxes were immediately below it.
“Move these boxes,” Chief Duckworthi
directed, as he put a powerful shoulder.
against one of the larger ones and started!
to push it across the room. The other offi-j
cers joined him.
As the big box against which the chief
pressed his shoulder slid from its resting,
place, a crack appeared in the floor. As:
the box was moved farther across the room,
the crack enlarged and formed into aj
square. Hinges appeared on one side. ;
It was a trap door, directly below the rope
that dangled from the rafter, not entirely:
unlike the trap door of the old gallows. &
On raising it, an inky blackness from be-*
low assailed the officers, but there were’
steps visible at the top. One of the officers
produced a flashlight and they crowded:
down into something that resembled a small:
cubicle, a dungeon-like compartment in the
basement of the building.
Following the beam of the flashlight, the |
officers found the room empty, but there
were stains on the floor as if some liquid”
had dripped through from thé floor above.
There was a pool at one point, where4
apparently the crack above had been larger.”
One of the officers scraped at it with thes
side of the sole of his shoe. It was con ‘f
gealed blood that had been there perhaps:
several days.
The light beam revealed a door leading
out of this small space into which the four,
officers were crowded. Through this doors
way, they made their way along a serié
of cubicle-like rooms. All of them weré
empty, but stained with crimson. oe
“You can smell that murder has been don€
here,” Chief Duckworth remarked, grimk
to the other officers, as they went over th
walls, tile by tile, seeking one or two thal
might be loose and might reveal—they dia
know what. But they found nothing loos
Throughout the night the officers wail
about the garage, searching for something
that might start them on the proper tral
though they didn’t know what any i
they might find would lead to eventual}
Daybreak came soon. The tired officef
sleepless throughout the night, turned o#
—
In rear of photo above, undertakers, with cloth poised,
wait to cover the body disinterred from sight of crowd
Then followed a deluge of mail from Clarksburg—ardent
love letters.
For six months the correspondence continued. It was
noticeable to neighbors that Mrs. Eicher was lighter of
heart than she had been for a long time. Next a letter
arrived for Greta, Mrs. Eicher’s daughter. It was couched
in most affectionate terms, showing a great interest in the
child’s welfare. The letter was signed Cornelius O. Pierson.
Then, on June 22nd, a man came to the Eicher home. He
was dark-haired, perhaps five feet, seven inches in height,
weighing around 175 or 180 pounds. Mrs. Eicher welcomed
him on the front porch. The neighbors didn’t miss this.
-The man spent five days at the Eicher home. He romped
with the three children and was, apparently, a jovial being.
The boarder, O’Boyle, left soon after the stranger arrived.
The neighbors saw little of Mrs. Eicher during those five
days, except when she was going out with the stranger.
On June 27th, Mrs. Eicher bade goodbye—with a hand-
clasp—to her visitor. That also was on the front porch.
A day or two later the neighbors received a surprise.
Mrs. Eicher departed, traveling-bag in hand. She was going
to visit relatives in Denver, so the neighbors were informed
by the Eicher children left at home in care of a nurse,
Miss Elizabeth Abernathy. The neighbors concluded, from
all signs, that Mrs. Eicher was going away to be married.
Just a week after Mrs. Eicher had left, a letter came to
Miss Abernathy, ostensibly written by Mrs. Eicher and
dated from Clarksburg, West Virginia, which read:
Dear Miss Abernathy:
I have sold the place and have got the money already,
but it is necessary for me to wait for certain details here
so I am sending Mr. Pierson for the children. I have given
him instructions as to what to do so he will know. He will
pay your bill or you can give him your bill and I will send
you a check for same. Hoping you are well,
ASTA EICHER
The day following, the man whom Miss Abernathy knew
by the letter as “Mr. Pierson,” appeared at the house and
said he had come for the children and would take them
to their mother.
The children, with considerable luggage, were bundled
into an automobile and departed, supposedly to join their
mother in West Virginia. Neighbors who saw them go
noted that the car bore West Virginia license plates.
Miss Abernathy left the Eicher home at that time. Later
that same day, Greta appeared at the Park Ridge State
Bank, where her mother maintained both checking and
savings accounts. She had a letter and a blank check, both
Police and the curious await results of workmen digging in
drainage ditch behind garage containing chamber of horrors
purporting to bear the signature of Mrs. Eicher, which she
gave to B. E. Kaulfuss, the teller. The letter directed that the
balance in both of Mrs. Eicher’s accounts be given Greta.
Kaulfuss compared the signatures with the bank’s record
of the widow’s signature and found that they did not compare
accurately and returned the check to Greta.
“Send this check back to your mother,” he said, “and tell
her to sign another as her name is signed on the bank records,
and put in the amount.”
Greta did not return.
The Eicher home was closed for weeks after that.
Then, about the middle of August, the man who had visited
Mrs. Eicher earlier in the summer returned to the house.
Neighbors saw him, with the aid of a laborer, moving furniture
from the house to a garage on the rear of the lot. Curiosity
overcame some, and they ventured to ask the mysterious
visitor questions.
Mrs. Eicher wasn’t coming back to Park Ridge, the man
said. His rather coy attitude left the impression that he and
the widow were married. The house had been sold, he claimed,
and the furniture was being stored in the garage temporarily.
The thing the neighbors couldn’t understand was why Mrs.
Eicher, if married to the man, didn’t return with him to pack
the furniture and why, if she wasn’t married to him, she had
sent him to pack it.
One of those who thus wondered was the former boarder,
O’Boyle. He was frankly suspicious of the stranger, having
knowledge—which he kept to himself for the most part—of
the mail romance and Mrs. Eicher’s lack of real information
about the man, aside from what he had written her. Another
was the wife of Mayor William A. McKee of Park Ridge, who
lived only a short distance from the Eicher home.
In the end, Mayor McKee was appealed to and he turned
the case over to the Park Ridge Chief of Police, Harold W.
Johnson.
The chief heard the story and decided to interview the
stranger, who was still packing furniture in the garage. He
visited the house and found Pierson willing to talk. He said
he was from Fairmont and would return there. He produced
a paper which indicated he had the power of agent to act for
Mrs. Eicher.
Chief Johnson had naught to do but accept the document,
but he wasn’t satisfied. While stumped, he wasn’t through—
not yet. Accordingly, when the chief was ready to leave, he
said he would return the next day, intending, meantime, to
do some checking on the stranger’s statements. Pierson said
he would be there.
Meanwhile, neighbors had got in touch with the holder of
a mortgage on the Eicher home, and an agent of the mortgage
holder appeared on the’ scene just after the chief had left.
11
There was interest to the extent of
$150 due on the mortgage, the agent
said, and Pierson paid the amount from
a roll which the agent said afterward
possibly contained about one thousand
dollars.
Next day, when Chief Johnson went
to the Eicher home, the man had gone.
The chief peered into the windows of
the house and saw that all the furni-
ture had been moved out. He thought
perhaps the stranger was staying at a
hotel, but a check of the hotels in
town revealed he was not at any of
them.
There seemed to be nothing more to
do for the time being. Chief Johnson
decided to bide his time and wait for
developments.
Neighborhood gossip
after that.
Just about this time, in North Ux-
bridge, the climax came in the mail
courtship of Mrs. Lemke. Her husband-
to-be came to the Massachusetts town
and they prepared for their wedding.
Mrs. Lemke gave up her place as
companion to an elderly lady and,
with the man she was to marry, went to visit at the home
of a sister, Mrs. Chester Fleming, in Northboro, Massa-
chusetts.
Mrs. Lemke introduced her fiancé as C. O. Pierson, and
the couple remained at the Fleming home overnight.
Pierson talked about himself and his prospects that night.
He said he had been a civil engineer in Chicago, but
recently had lost his position and intended going back to
Iowa, whence he came originally and where he owned a farm.
Next morning Mrs. Lemke departed with her intended
husband in an automobile he had said was his. They were
starting, supposedly, for Pierson’s Iowa farm and were to
be married that day, so the journey to the West could be
their honeymoon.
Several days later a letter came to Mrs. Fleming. It was
postmarked Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and was _ signed
“Dorothy.” It told a sad story of a shattered romance,
but was cheerful nevertheless. It read:
lagged some
Mrs. Eicher's
Hello, everybody,
I am feeling fine physically but very disappointed over
Garage (left), obviously built for ghoulish purpose, is surrounded by crowd while authorities investigate the interior
three children:
to right) Annabel, nine; Greta, four-
teen; Harry, twelve—all found dead
my marriage adventure. We have
completely broken up. We had a dis-
agreement, but I guess it was my fault
as I have been telling things that
were not true and they were found
out. It made him very mad, so I put
a note in the car while he was not
there and I simply walked away.
It is perhaps all for the best and I
am terribly ashamed of it all. I am
going to Chicago to try to find em-
ployment. I have the name and ad-
dress of a lady seeking a woman
companion and I will write from there.
On August 18th, Mrs. Fleming re-
ceived a second letter, this one post-
marked Chicago. It started the same
as the first:
Hello, everybody,
«Here I am again. I thought I would
tell you that we will go on our trip
day after tomorrow. We will be gone
ten months and we are going to go
through Europe, China, Japan and
other places. I am glad now that I did
not get married for I would have
missed all this. I don’t think I will ever marry now.
Please don’t tell anyone of the disastrous marriage plans.
I feel so ashamed that I do not believe I could ever face
anyone around there again.
Do not worry if you do not hear from me for a long
time as it’s mighty difficult to write. But I will try to find
time to at least send you a card once in a while. I will
now close with best wishes and love to all.
(left
DOROTHY
Neither of the letters contained a return address and
Mrs. Fleming could not communicate with her sister.
“Neither of these looks like Dorothy’s writing,” Fleming
told his wife after the second letter had come. “The writing
is too small and the words are spelled too well to be
Dorothy’s.”
But Mrs. Fleming was certain they were in her sister’s
handwriting, despite her husband’s suspicions.
It was about the time the second letter was mailed in
Chicago that the neighbors of Mrs. Eicher started to talk
again. There had been no sign of life about the Eicher
ae ee. 2 se
Cig head
Bete
home since the day Chief Johnson interviewed the stranger
who gave his name as C. O. Pierson and said he was from
West Virginia. The chief was called again.
It was discovered Mrs. Eicher had friends in Denver named
Nelson. Chief Johnson asked the Denver police to aid him,
and a man named Nelson who knew her was found. He
had been a friend of the Eichers for many years, and he
knew the address of a sister of Mrs. Eicher in La Jolla,
California.
Chief Johnson got in touch with the California relative
and ascertained that Mrs. Eicher had not been there, nor
had she been heard from recently.
Then Johnson decided upon a drastic step. He would
break into the garage where the furniture was stored and
see if there was anything there that might aid him in his
investigation. Meantime, remembering that Pierson had said
he was from Fairmont, West Virginia, he asked the police
there to search for the man.
Then, with other officers, he went to the Eicher home,
forced an entrance to the garage and started to search
through drawers, boxes and cabinets.
In one box he found many letters addressed to Mrs. Eicher.
Eventually he came across one particular packet of probably
fifty letters. He opened the packet and found the letters
were all from the man who styled himself Cornelius O.
Pierson. The only address given was a post-office box at
Clarksburg, West Virginia.
The letters in the packet were brimming over with ardent
messages of love—prettily painted pictures of a rosy future.
The writer described his various property holdings and
discussed his. income. Obviously he was in love with the
woman, or was playing a game he hoped to win by his
shower of well-worded phrases.
The chief next went to Park Ridge State Bank, and
learned there that the widow’s accounts were being depleted.
It was generally believed in Park Ridge that Mrs. Eicher
was well-fixed financially. This information had been given
Chief Johnson and, when he obtained the conflicting informa-
tion from the bank, concluded that the widow had probably
been duped by the stranger who had come into her life
through a matrimonial agency.
Considering what information he had, Johnson decided to
take two more drastic steps. The first of these was to swear
out warrants against the man he knew as Pierson, charging
him with kidnapping the Eicher children, and another charg-
ing the man with manslaughter. On this latter charge he
was without even the flimsy evidence upon which he had
sworn out the kidnapping charge.
Next he wired the police at (Continued on page 56)
Partial view showing one of the subterranean cubicles
constructed under floor of garage for sinister purpose
Chief Duckworth and Mrs. Fleming walking from rear of the garage through drainage ditch where bodies were unearthed
13
diana wasn’t too far from where
the Eichers lived in Park Ridge,
Illinois, and Liz was the sort who
would be glad to accommodate a
friend. '
All it took was a phone call. Liz
caught a bus through Chicago and
arrived that night, bag and bag-
gage. “Asta!” she cried excitedly,
entering the shabby old house on
Cedar Street. “How’d you do it,
honey? Give me the lowdown!”
When Asta had told her story in
detail, Liz was frankly skeptical.
“I don’t think much of these cor-
respondence club marriages,” she
said. “A good man is a scarce
article. If he wants a wife, there
are women everywhere. He doesn’t
have to get one by mail! This Mr.
Pierson of yours, what do you know
about him?”
“He’s been to see me twice,”
Asta answered defensively. “He’s
an engineer and he’s got a lot of
money, mostly in oil wells and real
estate. He’s not much to look at
but I figure we can get along. As
you know, Liz, I can’t afford to be
too choosy.”
Asta, at 45, had long since lost
the bloom of youth. Left a widow
six years before, she’d had a tough
time feeding and clothing her three
children. There was also her never-
ending struggle to meet the install-
ments on the mortgage.
“Okay,” said Liz with a forced
smile, “I won’t be a wet blanket.
It’s a good idea for you to be get-
ting married again, Asta, and here’s
wishing you every happiness!”
Two days later Asta’s intended
husband arrived on schedule. He
was well dressed, drove a fine auto-
Mobile and had pleasant enough
manners. In Liz’s opinion. that was
where his acceptability stopped!
Never had she seen a stranger look-
ing man. His body was heavy and
egg-shaped and he stood on short,
duck-like legs. His arms were also
too short; his eyes set much too
close together. He had a broad,
jowl-hung and absolutely expres-
\ sionless face.
“Mama’s going on her honey-
I moon,” Asta -explained to her chil-
| dren. “She'll be back in a couple
of weeks. Be good. to Liz.”
“That’s right,” said Pierson.
“We'll probably get married some
place in Ohio and then we'll tour
| \ the Midwest. We're going to buy a
Le new' home in some nice city and
} then we’ll come back and get all of
you little dears.”
} The couple got into the car and
drove away from Park Ridge. That
= was the last time Liz Abernathy
i saw Asta Hicher. Liz took care of
Asta’s children for about a week.
| On July 2, 1931, a card, post-
marked Zanesville, Ohio, arrived for
for Grethe, the oldest girl. “Darl-
ing Grethe,” the message read.
Mama and Mr. Pierson were mar-
led here and we are buying a
| lovely little cottage just out of
\ town. We are very happy. Your new
i duddy will come for you shortly.
Do just exactly what he says.
ae ger ee a
Thank Liz for being so nice to you.
Love—Mama.”
The children were naturally ex-
cited at the prospect of leaving
Park Ridge. Liz Abernathy, how-
ever, had doubts about letting them
go. The handwriting on the post-
card disturbed her. It didn’t look
to her like Asta’s, Still, she couldn’t
be sure. But she was very much
surprised when the fat, duck-legged
man, alone in his car, drove into the
yard that same evening.
“So soon, Mr. Pierson!” she ex-
claimed. Ae
“Yes,” said the man reassuringly.
“Asta and I are all settled., We
want the children with us right
away. Just close up the house, will
you please, and leave the key under
the mat.”
Liz hesitated only briefly. After
all, she had no real reason to stop
Grethe, Annabelle and Harry from
going with him. Mr. Pierson did
seem a_ substantial sort. Perhaps
a man as ugly as he was would
have to use a correspondence club
to meet a prospective wife,
The next day Liz locked up the
house and went back to her home
in Indiana.
TWO weeks later a man named
Charles O’Boyle returned to Park
Ridge. He had previously been .a-
roomer at Asta Eicher’s and he
went to see if she could accom-
modate him again,
O’Boyle went away when he
found the house locked but came
back the following morning, During
the night he’d been unable to get
rid of the thought that maybe
something was wrong. He had come
back to seek information from
Asta’s old neighbors but they could
tell him very little.
O’Boyle then sought information,
from H. W.: Johnson, Park Ridge
chief of police.
“The thing puzzles me,” he told
the officer. “Asta Eicher was
alone in the world. She had no
place to go.”
Chief Johnson returned to Cedar
Street with O’Boyle to have a look
around, As they were getting out
of the car they saw a fat, duck-
legged man busy moving furniture
out of the house and storing it in
the garage.
“Whew!”” the man exclaimed as
they approached. He was perspir-
ing, but otherwise. looked uncon-
cerned. “This is hot work for mid-
July!” he said, wiping ‘his face with
his handkerchief,
Chief Johnson asked about Mrs.
Eicher and the fat man explained
he’d bought her house and was get-
ting ready to rent it. “A truck will
come after her heavy stuff,” he
said. “I’m taking some of her per-
sonal things to her in my car.”
The fat man dug into one of his
pockets. and presented the officer
with a business card which read:
Cornelius Pierson, Real Estate,
Fairmont Hotel, Fairmont, West
Virginia,
“That’s where Mrs. Kicher is,” ho
Workmen pulling the bodies of the children out of the ditch
at the rear of the garage,
went on, “down in God’s country. I
had a little farm near there which
I traded with her for this place,
giving her cash to boot.”
Piersen’s story sounded plausible,
but neither O’Boyle nor Chief
Johnson were entirely satisfied. The
chief took a look at the realtor’s
car. He made a note of the number
of the West Virginia license plates.
Then he and O’Boyle went to the
mortgagee of the property, a man
O’Boyle knew,
An hour later they returned, with
the mortgagee, to find Pierson. stil
working. “There’s a little matter of
back interest,” the mortgage holder
said, and handed Pierson a bill for
$150.
‘The fat man produced a wallet
with great alacrity and extracted
three crisp fifties. “Oh, yes,” he
agreed, “the interest. And next
week, when I bring Mrs. Eicher up
(See over)
25
‘
‘
Auction of the household goods of the Bluebeard, Customers came from
miles cround end curiosity seekers paid huge prices for the furniture,
stood by while he robbed Mrs.
* Eicher’s house, maybe kidnapped
the whole family!”
Johnson was not a man to jump
to sensational conclusions. An ef-
ficient officer, he still had Pierson’s
business card and auto license num-
ber on file. He calmly went about
checking them. Two phone calls
proved he was on the trail of dirty
businees of some sort. The Fair-
mont Hotel in Fairmont, West Vir-
ginia, had never heard of Cornelius
Pierson. The West Virginia Motor
Vehicle Bureau reported that the
license plates on the Pierson car
, had been reported stolen early in
' the year.
| Johnson’s interest mounted. He
} immediately went to Cedar Street
and began searching Asta Eicher’s
old home. But even a thorough
search yielded no clue to what
might have become of her and’ ker
three children, The neighbors were
again questioned but they knew no
more this time than they had when
O’Boyle had questioned them six
weeks before. As a last resort,
Johnson checked with the telephone
company, going over a detailed ac-
count of the unpaid Eicher bill. It
was in this way he learned that on
June 23rd some member of the
housezold hed put in a call to an
Indiana number, It was, of course,
Liz Abernathy’s.
So it was that Liz was brought
into the investigation through
routine police procedure. She came
back to Park Ridge immediately.
“I knew something awful was
going to happen!” she cried. re}
knew Asta chouldn’t have married
that man. Something warned me
against him!”
“Married?” Chief Johnson re-
peated. “Who'd she marry? It’s the
first we’ve heard about that.”
When Liz revealed that Cornelizs
Pierson was presumably the missing
Asta’s husband, Johnson was as-
tounded. IIe listened patiently white
Liz recited the story of the po:t-
card from Zanesville, Chio, and of
Pierson’s coming alone after ihe
Funeral of Mrs. Eicher and her children, the last victims of the murder
cellar Ia the Innocent-looking garage.
Powers, handcuffed, looking at the ghastly Instruments of death In
the torture cellar of his garage.
children, When Liz told all she
knew, Johnson communicated with
the Zanesville authorities. He did
80 with only slim hope. Up to now
the duck-Ilcgged man’s every utter-
ance had been branded a lie,
Hours later a Zanesville detective
called back and it was as Johnson
expected. No one named Cornelius
Pierson nor Asta Licher had been
married in the Ohio city during the
preceding six months; nor was
there a property owner of either
name within Zanesville’s corporate
limits, nor in any of the surround.
ing suburbs. ,
“Poor Asta!” Liz wept. “Poor
little Grethe and Annabelle and
Harry! Ch, what a fool a woman is
to go off with some man she meetg
through a correspondence club!
Some man she knows nothing
about!”
(Continued on page 58)
Powers showing brulses claimed by his attorney to have been
inflicted by the police during the third degree.
27
ten, if I wasn’t 80 crazy about
in’ to ‘the movies, and especially.
is picture .. .”
It-was true. Dillinger -was crazy
out the movies. He always had
en. It was one of his few forms
relaxation. Once in a darkened
wie house, he could sit back and
joy the picture, without worrying
ether anybody had. spotted him
recognized him. P
de particularly liked gangster
tures. The picture. they were go-
: to see that night was a gang-
r film: “Manhattan Melodrama,”
: story of a gunman who event-
ly ended up in the Sing Sing
atric chair, }
3o they went that night to see
picture at the Biograph Thea-
, Anna and John.
Jutside the theatre and covering
the exits were Melvin Purvis,
FBI men, and five Chicago cops.
y Anna knew that they would
t the killer by his companion’s
id red dress!
Thile John Dillinger was watch-
make-believe death on the
en, his own real death was
ting for him outside the theatre.
‘e took off his hat, and slumped
« into the seat, prepared to en-
the picture. It was a wonderful
w, exactly the kind he liked
t. Clark Gable played the gang~-
, @ smooth, suave character who
mitted a murder with the same
ial aplomb with which he tossed
a wisecrack. It was all in the
iks, Gable said in the picture,
in the darkness, Dillinger
led approvingly.
Chat’s true,” he whispered to
a, who was sitting quietly
gside of him, her eyes on the
en. “It’s strictly the breaks.”
1e didn’t answer. 'Her mind was
a whirl, had been ever since
d made that phone call to the
ce. Had she done right? Was
greatest loyalty due to the man
trusted her and said he leved
or to her adopted country?
hat would happen when they
ced outside?’ Would Dillinger be
aken by surprise that it would
ill over before he fully realized
t had happened? Would he try
hoot it out? Or would his first
ight be to avenge himself, to
her? ;
ae «thoughts. kept skittering
ind in her head like a million
‘ling little grains of sand.
nally the show was over.
illinger nudged her. “That was
i, huh?”
veah.” Her voice was far-away.
rey walked up the darkened
: silently. When they stepped
the bright lobby, Dillinger
xed and put on his straw hat.
big, calm, unhurried men, cach
with the word “cop” written across
hhis face.
Out of the corner of his eye, the
Killer could see that Anna was no
longer by his side, She had disap-
peared. In that moment he must
have known what had happened.
His hand made a lightning move-
ment in and out of his pocket and
he was aiming a gun, As quick as
he was, he was still not fast
enough. He never had a chance to
pull the trigger. The first bullet
caught him in the chest, and then
the cops really moved in and start-
ed blasting. They knew they were
dealing with a killer, and they
weren’t taking any chances.
Later, when Dillinger was lying
.
on tho stroct and his blood was
spewing into the gutter, they dis-
covered that two bullets had caught
him in the chest and one through
the back of the neck.
John Dillinger, the notorious
Western bank robber and killer,
was dead.
And Anna Sage—the woman in
red? ;
It’s a good many years since {
last saw her. I don’t know if she’s
in Chicago, I don’t know if she’s in
this country, I don’t even know
she’s still alive. i
But I know one thing—she was
never sorry that she helped the De-
partment of Justice men rid the
world of. John Dillinger.
(THE END)
BLUEBEARD'S LAST HONEYMOON!
(Continued from page 27)
Chief. Johnson glanced sharply
at her. “Correspondence club,” he
echoed. “What correspondence club?
If you can help us out on that
point...” :
Try as she would, Liz couldn't
remember the name of the club, nor
was she certain she’d ever heard it.
Johnson, however, recalled a nation-
wide investigation of correspond-
ence clubs held three years before,
in 1928. He contacted the Postal
Inspectors regional headquarters in
Chicago. oe :
“Yes, that’s right,” answered the
inspector-in-charge, “Matters like
this come under our jurisdiction. I'll
have our men check the name of
a the street, Dillinger reached J
is pocket. As he brought out a
r and clamped it in his mouth,
raised his head and suddenly
e to a stop.
ming toward him from every
ction were ‘about a dozen men
this fellow Pierson on the rosters
of all such clubs known to exist in
the Midwest—in the entire United
States, if necessary. You'll hear
from us as soon as we get some-
thing!”
MEANWHILE, some 500 miles to
the southeast of Park Ridge, two
letters were in the process of com-
position, Written in the same hour,
one after another, by a pudgy hand
attached to a short, fat arm. The
first was addressed to a woman in
Hagerstown, Maryland, and read:
My Sweet Darling Virginia:
This weather has delayed me
some. Will you be patient until
oe AN
ie ee
e*
SN
Greasy,
“There now, don't you feel less worried, walking down dis tough |
street without dat pocketbook?’ '
“man out of the building
Saturday or Sunday? ‘I will
wire you when I leave, so you'll
know just when to expect me.
Where would you like to get
married, honey? In Elkton,
maybe? I can hardly wait until
I am with you and we are man
and wife.
Ever yours,
Connie
And the second, intended for a
‘Woman in Olean,, New York, carried
@ similar message:
Bessie, Sweetheart:
. I expect to reach Olean some-
, time Tuesday during the after-
noon. I got your letter, dearest
one, and it.made me more than
happy. I can see a wonderful
future ahead of us when we
begin life together,
I love thee!
(Till Tuesday, dear!
Ever yours,
Connie
The man who called himself Cor
nelius Pierson certainly had as~
signed himself a full schedule! It
was his purpose, obviously, to:
relegate Virginia and Bessie to the
same limbo already containin> Asts. '
and Dorothy. Sealing the letters, he.
placed them in the pocket of his
jacket, planning to mail them later
THAT same night, however —
Wednesday, August 26th — Chief
Johnson of Park Ridge got a break
on the Eicher case, A Detroit postad
inspector phoned instructions re-
ceived from Chicago. “There’s a
correspondence club here ealled the
American Friendship Society,” he
reported. “I’ve examined their mem- ;
bership rolls. They have a Cor-
nelius Pierson, His address ig Post
Office Box 277, Clarksburg, Wes?
Virginia.”
“Thanks a million!” Johnson re-
plied, and immediately put in a cad
to Clarksburg. '
When the doors of the Clarksburg
post office opened the next’ morn-
ing, a thin, wiry man sought out
es
the postmaster and identified him. -
self as Detective Carl Southern of
the Clarksburg police force. There-
after, in what appeared to be .a
casual fashion, Southern loitered in
the lobby of the building, but his
eyes were always glued to the bank
of letter boxes,
« At 10:15, a fat, duck-legged man |
entered. He opened 277 and extract-
ed the mail. On his way out he took
two envelopes from his pocket and
slipped them through the outgoing
slot. « :
Southern winked at a stamp.
clerk. The wink was a pre-arranged
signal for the
letters. _ \
oe
?
town, and finally to a private house
on Quincy Street. Southern watched
his quarry take out a key and un-
lock the door. Then he began mak-
ing inquiries in the neighborhood.
““Yho’s the heavy, short-legged
fellow down the block?” Southern
\
across ~
|
Police Chief C. A. Duckworth
and Detective Carl Southern
examining coat belonging to Mrs,
Dorothy Lemke,
for the. transfer of title, we'll take
care of the principal.” \ ‘
This action temporarily banished
ell skepticism. Chief Johnson,
O’Boyle and the mortgagee took
their departure, while Pierson,
done with the furniture, started
loading his car with linen, silver
and other small articles of value,
So it was that the strange dis-
appearance of Asta Eicher, her
children and her wordly goods were
temporarily forgotten.
AROUND this time, the ghostly
“band of Fate was resting upon the
unwary shoulders of Dorothy
Lemke, a fifty-year-old widow of
Northboro, Massachusetts, Dorothy
wanted a man, but not because she
needed one to support her, Dorothy
had money of her own and she
lived quite comfortably with a well-
to-do sister. But she was an in- |
curable romantic and had become
a member of a correspondence club,
At first she exchanged letters
with a number of men, but finally
narrowed them down to only one,
- sequently haven't
an engineer who seemed most ar-
dent, “I own a number of oil wells
and many parcels of real estate,”
he wrote. “All my life I’ve been
busy making a fortune and con-
married. The
Woman who gets me will have a
man with all his vigor still in him.”
If Dorothy thrilled to this, she
was even more thrilled.when, event-
ually there came from her unseen
hero a proposal of marriage. She
accepted and arrangements were
made. He was to call for her on
July 28th and they would drive
south: until they found a town
fat man get out. “It’s Mr, Pierson!
I cun tell him from his picture! I
just can’t believe it!” :
Pierson waddled in and for the
first time came face’ to face with
his fiancee and several of her
friends and relatives. There was a
pre-nuptial reception of a sort and
the couple started off, The record
of their trip south is somewhat
sketchy, but one incident stands out
clearly. On July 29th they stopped
at a bank in Uniontown, Pennsyl-
vania, where Dorothy drew a draft
on a Worcester, Massachusetts, sav-
ings institution. for $4,000. She
’
Detective with some of the many photos found in Powers’ sultcases ;
hidden ‘in the garage.
where the ceremony might be per-
formed quickly and quietly.
Packed, ready and eager on the
morning of the appointed day, Dor-
othy was afraid she was living in
a dream. “Pinch me!” she cried to
her sister excitedly, when she saw
@ car stop at the door and a short,
Letter written by Dorothy Lemke to friend. It was this letter that
proved to be the undoing of a Twentieth Century Blueboard,
26 ’
opened an account for Cornelius
and Dorothy Pierson and deposited
the draft for collection. So far as
is known, this is the last time Dor-
othy exercised any control over her
money.
July turned into August and to-
ward the middle of that month,
Like all famous
Bluebeards,
Powers had a respectable wife
(above) who knew nothing of his
murderous activities.
back in Park Ridge, the man who
held the mortgage on Asta Eicher’s
Cedar Street property began ‘to
worry about his investment. True,
the records at the county clerk’s
office showed no fraudulent effort
to transfer title without notifica-
tion to the mortgage holder, and
yet certain things looked funny.
Pierson had promised. that he and
Asta would return to pay off the
principal but a month had gone by
and still there was no word from
them.
When the mortgagee visited the
house he found the furniture gone
from the garage and the whole
house emptied, but apparently no
attempt had been made to rent it.
Phone and electric services had
been discontinued for non-payment
of charges; the lawn was grown
up in weeds; mail, consisting large-
ly of bills and advertisements, jam-
med the letter box.
The mortgagee went to see Chief
Johnson. “That fellow Pierson,” he
said. “I’m afraid he put one over
on us. It’s just possible that we
SAL
Hotel register in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, which enabled the police
to trace Powers' movements,
y? I wil
! "@, $0 you'll
expect me,
ike to get
ao Elkton,
wait catil
@ are man
{ =
' Connie
ended for a
York, carried
‘ean somes
| the after-
|r, dearest
| more than
wonderful
' when we
| Connie
| dmself Cor
| y had as
_ hedule! It
viously, to.
' assie to the
| ainins Asts, |
, ? letters, he
hio
later
lowever —
a — Chief
sot a break
| troit posta)
ictions re-
| ‘There’s a
| ealled the
| Xiety,” he
| their mem- .
ve a Cor. $
38 is Post #
urg, West
ohnson re-
t in a cald
Jlarksburg
ext morn.
ought out
ified him.
vuthern of
| ce. There-
, to bea
! loitered in
| 3 but his
| > the bank
| gged man
| d extract-
' at he took
| ocket and
outgoing
ra
a stamp.
~ “atranged
trieve the
Lal
the fat
Z, across
ate house
| 1 watched
7A ine
nak-
100d.
-- ~gged
Southern
alg
asked the druggist on the corner.
“Harry Powers,” came the an-
swer. “Four or five years ago he
married a divorcee who owns the
place and they live there together.”
“This Powers work for a living?”
“You got me there, brother. All
I know is he drives around in a big
| car and stays away from home a
lot.”
Five minutes later, the detective
had Pierson, or Powers, under ar-
rest. Booked at headquarters on an
abduction charge, the fat man de-
nied guilt in a high, terrified voice.
“I don’t know what you’re talking
about!” he shrieked. “I never heard
of Asta Eicher! I never mess around
with women!”
Circumstances arose to contradict
him, however, when the letters he’d
mailed that morning were opened
and when the Quincy Street house
was searched. In a room he called
his study, a large cabinet full of
missives from more than 500 women
were found, all indexed and care-
fully filed.
“I just write to them for fun,” he
. explained. “There ain’t no harm in
that.”
The case against Powers alias
Pierson reached a climax shortly
after he’d been fingerprinted and
photographed. His picture appeared
in the local paper that same even-
ing, and around 9 o’clock a Harrison
County constable, living in a. re-
mote hamlet six miles from Clarks-
burg, phoned in.
“I know that fellow in the paper,”
the constable said. ““He’s got a gar-
age, or a barn, or some sort of
building out here at Quiet Dell. I
saw him around recently with a
truck.”
Accompanied by other officers,
Detective Southern sped out to the
fat man’s Quiet Dell property. The
building was a strange, windowless
affair of sheet iron with only one
door which was heavily padlocked.
The policemen broke in. Their
flashlights revealed a large ground
floor room stuffed full of household
furniture, boxes of books, kitchen-
ware, china and silver, trunks of
women’s and children’s clothing. A
heavy trap door in the floor of the
room led to'a bizarre basement
dungeon which was divided into
four cells separated by two-foot-
thick concrete walls. From the
ceiling beams of two of the cells
hung hemp nooses and, on the floor
of the other two, blood was encrust-
ed in dark splotches. A heavy odor
of putrefaction filled the air. By
dawn the officers had traced. it to a
freshly covered ditch which ran
from beneath the building to Elk
Creek, a small stream fifty feet
away.
During the next 48 hours a gang
of convicts, working under the sher-
iff of Harrison County, exhumed
five burlap-wrapped bodies from
out of this ditch. Later they were
identified as the four members of
the Eicher family and Dorothy
Lemke,
A coroner's jury arrived at a ver-
dict of murder in all five cases. It
was believed that each victim had
been first starved and tortured. The
two women had been finally mur-
dered by hanging and the children
had been stabbed and butchered.
Powers was taken to the morgue
to view the bodies. For the moment,
his only comment was, “Ain’t that
awful!” Later he confessed all five
crimes and then he repudiated his
confession. But what he had to say
regarding his innocence didn’t sound
convincing,
. By this time the case had receiv-
ed wide publicity and the Clarks-
burg detective bureau was flooded
with inquiries from all over the
country.
Was Powers responsible for the
recent disappearance of a Chicago
spinster? Of an Iowa nurse? Of a
Michigan widow whose children had
been looking for her since May? Of
a missing Tampa, Florida, woman
who was also a correspondence club
devotee?
Overworked already, the Clarks-
burg officers were unable to find
positive proof of any further kill-
ings, but they did build up an in-
teresting dossier on their prisoner.
Actually the fat man’s real name
was neither Pierson nor Powers. He
was born Herman Drenth and had
migrated to this country from Hol-
land in 1910. He had spent 18
months in a Wisconsin penitentiary,
convicted of burglary; in 1925 he
was arrested in Mansfield, Ohio, for
swindling a spinster out of $5,400.
That particular charge against him
was dropped when he promised to
marry the complainant. As soon as
he was released from jail he dis-
appeared.
Now, however, he would never
victimize a woman again. In Sep-
tember, 1931, a grand jury handed
down five first degree murder in-
dictments against him, a record for
the state. His trial opened in De-
cember. The prosecution decided to
bring evidence against him on only
one count, that of the murder of
Dorothy Lemke. The motive in this
case was the easiest to prove be-
cause of the documentary nature of
the evidence which had by this time
turned up at the Uniontown bank.
“Powers is the most horrible mur-
derer we have ever known,” the pro-
secutor concluded in his speech to
the jury. “He preyed on woimen.
Widows. He was moved by greed.
‘When you return with your verdict,
the shades of eternity should be
drawn about him!”
And so they were. At last Fate
pointed a finger at Drenth, alias
’ Powers, alias Pierson. On the night
of March 18th, 1932, he was hanged
in the yard of the West Virginia
Penitentiary at Moundsville.
(THE END)
“THERE'S BLOOD ON MY HANDS"
(Continued from page 31)
said Teel, and he climbed into his’
auto and drove off to a neighbor-
hood ranch,
Wolf strolled to his own. car in
which Williams was still sitting in
a trance-like condition and sug-
gested, “Suppose we saddle a couple
of those palominos in the corral and
take a ride.” ,
Williams looked at him and blink-
ed. “You want me to check now to
see if any of my palominos are
missing ?” eg
Wolf nodded non-committally and
a few minutes later he and Wil-
liams, ‘astride their mounts, were
loping across the rolling mesquite
and sagebrush covered range.
Although he had not mentioned
it, the Sheriff also wanted to per-
sonally inspect the other scenes of
the previous night’s events.
He got his opportunity when Wil-
liams finished surveying the range
from strategic points and an-
nounced dully, “I guess they didn’t
get any. None seem to’ be missing.
It was right over there that the
fence wires were cut.” He pointed
to a spot a half mile distant.
“Let’s take a look,” said Wolf,
and he spurred his palomino toward
the fence, Williams following.
‘The rancher’s hasty makeshift re-
pairs of the previous night became
visible to Wolf when he was still
a distance from the fence, and when
he approached close he could see
without dismounting that the wires
had been cut. As Williams had said,
however, there was no sign of auto |
tire tracks, and no evidence of an
attempt to drive the palominos in
the direction of the highway. The
purpose of the person who had cut
* the wires had not been theft of the
stock, Wolf concluded.
On the way back to the ranch
house he pulled up at the rim of a
gully where Williams said he had
seen the prowler. Dismounting, the
Sheriff climbed down the steep
bank, following tracks which the
rancher’s palomino had made the
previous night. The hoof prints
virtually vanished on the floor of the
mesquite studded gully,. however,
for it was mostly loose shale. But
at one spot, about 100 yards toward
the main highway, the rocky floor
of the gully appeared to be churned
up, and here he picked up two pen-
nies and a dime which were glint-
ing in the sunlight, and a half pack
of cigarettes. -
“These yours?” he called to Wil-
liams who was following along the
rim of the gully, leading the
Sheriff’s mount. .
The rancher shook his head and
produced a can of tobacco from his
shirt pocket. “I roll my own,” he
answered, ~
Sheriff Wolf: nodded understand-
ingly, and made his way along the
rocky gully to the highway where
he inspected both shoulders of the
road,
“No tire tracks here,” :
out when Williams joined
truck must have been }
the road.” :
The rancher shrugged.
see it.” His mind appea
elsewhere, perhaps broodi
loss of his wife.
THEY rode on to i
house in silence, the She:
also’ elsewhere—back in
mulling over observation
made there. °
Sheriff Teel and Sher
deputies were awaiting th
corral,
“Mrs. Williams never
_ that dance last night,”
Sheriff Teel.
“Huh?” Williams looke.
had been struck a blow ir
“You mean ... .” His eye
in disbelief. It appeared
for him to believe that
might have been enjoyin;
tryst while he was abse
ing for his palominos,
“Perhaps she changed
about going to the da
Teel, placatingly. “With
‘mind, we. checked the
‘of the men who were ;
learned’ that several «
slipped over here betwee:
‘and midnight, including t)
and the wrangler you na
Williams considered
said broodingly, “They’re
like the fellow I caught
away ‘from here.” :
“That man and the kill
necessarily the same,” pu
iff Wolf. “You better con
Big Springs with me and
any suspects who have b
up.”
Williams complied, and
that night he scrutinized
of suspects who were n
by the deputies of the tr
and by the state police. A
one he eliminated th
measured up to the: siz
general impression he h
man with whom he had
the’ gully, he said.
By now, Seriff Wolf w
ing him somberly. “Wa
light in your house whe
tered last night?” he as
“No, it was dark insid
Williams. y
“What door did you en
“The kitchen.’
“Did you strike a light
“No. I thought my
asleep and I didn’t want
her. I tip-toed into the be
sat down on the edge o
and started to take off
Then I realized she was
and I got up and lit a i
‘saw her on the floor.”
EARLY the following
Sheriff Wolf drove ‘th
back to his home. His »
had been removed.
, (See Over)-
-——p
CC
Fe ee ae
oy nin
£O HW DULL 3
Harry, white, hanged
W. Va. SP (Harrison Co.) 3/18/1932.
Probing the disappearance of a widow and her three children, police were
balked by lack of clues.
But a letter was to put them on the trail of a mail order lover, reveal a horrible
death plot and trap the nation’s most diabolical slayer!
.
°
By RALPH FOSTER
~
dered in the cold, blue eyes of the
imprisoned man. Pudgy, repellent,
he cowered in a corner of his cell like
some trapped animal—but not from fear.
The menace of the beast at bay was
written into every line of his features,
from the flinty stare of his heavy-lidded
eyes to the cruel gash which served him
for a mouth.
ay, Suddenly his thin lips parted in a snarl.
a. 82S SE Te ia “No!” he rasped. “I’m not talking !”
RR Cea cf - For an instant malevolent fury leaped
like a knife thrust from those heavy-lid-
. ded eyes. The next moment he had lapsed
“ into baleful silence.
The investigating officers studied the
man keenly, trying to probe the work-
ings of his cunning brain, matching
glance for glance as they tried to read
the secrets hidden in the inscrutable
depths of his defiant eyes.
But the man stared them down and for
the moment, at least, scored a partial vic-
tory; yet he could not stave off the in-
evitable. Even as he mouthed surly de-
fiance officers were uncovering evidence
which was to brand him as one of the
most inhuman monsters ever trapped by
the law.
Pitre? in 0 of icy flame smol-
Start Of The Murder Trail
THE amazing story which led up to
this scene in a: West Virginia jail had
its beginning in the pleasant little town of
Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chi-
cago.
Two little girls danced over the side-
walk toward Lieutenant H. H. Herzog,
Park Ridge officer, smiling happily. The
traffic was heavy, dangerous to little girls.
He signaled the automobiles to stop. The
girls clung to his arm and he led them
safely across the street.
“Thank you, Mr. Herzog,” said Greta
Eicher. “Thank you—see you tomor-
row,” said her smaller sister, Anabel.
And the tots romped along homeward.
The incident was not important. Lieu-
tenant Herzog was fond of the young-
sters and had escorted them across the
streets scores of times; but in the days
8 DARING
Darw C DETECTIVE JV AGA eA E.
Dies ak & R
ER
smol-
; of the
:pellent,
‘ell like
m fear,
ty was
2atures,
‘-lidded
ed him
a snarl.
ng bad
leaned
id-
ed
ed the
work-
hing
2 read
‘utable
nd for
al vic-
he in-
‘ly de-
idence
of the
ved by
“1 COMELY VICTIM yates
Neighbors became suspicious when a strange
man. took possession of property belonging
to Mrs. Asta Eicher, left, vanished widow
of Park Ridge, Ill. .The resultant investi- °
gation. by police was to disclose the most.
orrible death plot in the nation’s crime.
‘annals and trap a diabolical slayer,
»—
Lured to his death by the wanton killer,
little Harry Eicher was beaten down by
blows which crushed his skull in two
places as shown by official at right.
to come that scene was to stand out,
cameo clear, by virtue of its pleasant
contrast, against a kaleidoscopic back-
ground of deep-laid guile and inhuman
trickery.
Mrs. Asta Eicher, mother of the girls
and their twelve-year-old brother, Harry,
lived with her family in an unpretentious
frame dwelling at 312 Cedar street. Her-
zog knew them well. They were quiet
figures in the even-paced tempo of the
town. *s
But Mrs. Eicher was not satisfied with ,
her lot. The death of her ‘husband,
Henri, seven years before, had left her
lonely, longing for love and companion-
ship, Like countless other women the
country over, she dreaded to face middle
age alone. :
Early in the summer of 1931 she be-
gan hinting to neighbors that romance
had once more entered her life. Soon after
this announcement a strange man ap-
peared at the Eicher home. He was.
DETECTIVE
Paar earners
4
Investigating an isolated garage
owned by the suspected Bluebeard,
detectives found a crude noose
suspended over the basement stairs.
about forty-five, a short, stocky figure,
but well dressed and suave. Exercising
the prerogatives of the accepted suitor,
he told a boarder to leave the home. Then
Mrs. Eicher called an old friend of the
family, a nurse, to care temporarily for
the children and departed with the
stranger,
On June 30, 1931, the nurse received
a letter saying that “Mr. Pierson,” the
suitor, would call for the children, to
take them to their new home. A day or
so later, true to the letter, Pierson re-
appeared, bundled Harry, Greta and Ana- |
bel into his car and drove away.
Weeks went by without any word from
the family. Herzog had been wonder-
ing how his little friends were faring
when Pierson returned once more to the
Eicher home. Something in the man’s
actions aroused the curiosity of the
neighbors. It appeared that he was mak-
ing exceptionally free with Mrs. Eicher’s
property. Certain residents of the vi-
cinity came to headquarters and sug-
gested that police find out whether he had
a right to be there.
Chief Harold W. Johnson was imme-
diately interested. He, too, had heard
of the widow’s belated romance. Asking
Herzog to accompany him, Johnson
promptly set out for the Eicher place to
investigate.
The officers found a stout man carry-
ing a small table into a garage at the rear
10
AIR VENTS
SOUND PROOF
TILED WALL
PARTITIONS
MAIN GAS LINE WITH
SEPARATE CONNECTIONSN ~~
The photo-diagram
above shows the death
trappings in the hor-
ror garage where the
killer despatched his
hapless victims.
of the lot. Other furniture was already
heaped in there.
He was surprised at sight of the police
uniforms, but smiled and offered to shake
oe He answered questions prompt-
y.
“T am Cornelius O. Pierson, of the
Fairmont hotel, Fairmont, West Vir-
ginia. Mrs, Eicher went to Colorado
and she asked me to take charge of her
affairs. I am getting the furniture ready
for moving.”
He spoke easily, in a low-pitched, per-
suasive tone. The blue eyes behind his
shell-rimmed glasses were frank and
steady. He showed a slip of paper, ap-
IN EACH ROOM
Bi ph EF ‘i
IN EACH ROOM
parently signed by Mrs. Eicher, desig-
nating “Mr. Pierson” as her agent.
“I’ve just paid interest on her mort-
gage and have paid her taxes. Now I
guess I'll be busy for a few days tidying
up the house. I’m glad to meet you fel-
rei Anything more you want me to
do?”
The man’s frankness and ready an-
swers made the neighbor’s suspicions
seem absurd. The officers left Pierson
DARING
FLOOR DRAIN i 3 o
ae ae mrt
DOOR
TRAP DOOR |
LEADING TO
BASEMENT
4
EACH WITH
FACING STAIRWAY
FOUR ROOMS
nn
shortly afterwards, with a request for
him to appear at the station house later
to make the records complete. A patrols
man was then posted to maintain a gen-
eral surveillance of the property and.°
Johnson and Herzog returned to head-
quarters.
Pierson was not particularly prompt
about reporting and the Park Ridge po-
lice began to wonder if the man was on
the level, after all, Hours passed. Still
DETECTIVE
[HEAVY DooRS|
there was no sign of Pierson, Keenly
interested now, Herzog began to make
inquiries. He found that the man had
vanished immediately after he and
, Johnson had visited the Eicher home.
Herzog checked on Pierson further
and found that the man actually had
paid the taxes and interest on the
widow’s property. Then why, had he
disobeyed police orders? Why had
he apparently taken refuge in flight ?
Quickly Herzog despatched a tele-
gram to Fairmont, West Virginia, the
address given by Pierson. He wanted
to know more about the mysterious man
who had come so suddenly into the lives
of the Eichers, The reply only served
to deepen the mystery; for the Fairmont
hotel wired back: “Pierson not known
here.”
The message spurred Park Ridge po-
lice to new activity. Hastily gathering
a squad of patrolmen, Chief Johnson and
Herzog hurried to the Cedar street house,
Discovery of a newly finished ditch leading from
the garage caused sleuths to investigate. Five
dies were found in the murder trench. Photo
shows opening leading from garage after a section
of the wall was torn out.
hoping to find a clue to the baffling case.
Chairs, tables, mirrors and dressers
were neatly stacked in the garage, evi-
dently ready for removal. But the de-
tectives were not interested in furniture,
They were looking for papers, letters,
documents, And in a refuse can they
found them—scores of missives which
had passed between Mrs. Eicher and
her pudgy Lothario. An investigator
opened an envelope, It was a letter filled
with phrases of love, signed “Cornelius.”
He read it aloud:
I want to tell you about our love,
dear. I love you dearly. In you I
can see light and joy ahead. Honey
dear, we have met. Our pictures tell
us everything. We just have to hear
each other’s voice and feel the touch
of each other’s lips and hands to
make everything complete. It will
all come true, dear. I want you and
need you.
Other fervid notes were signed “Con-
nie” or “Cornelius.” One showed that
the writer began correspondence with
Mrs. Eicher through a matrimonial cor-
respondence agency of Detroit. Then de-
tectives found a revealing missive:
Just a few lines, dearest. I expect
to leave here next Saturday, expect
to see you next Monday. Do not
write any more after receiving this,
honey.
Sweetheart, when I come you stay
in the house, dear. Let me see you
alone. Tell the children anything you
11
f scattered
locks of
eft, in the
> first led
*t foul play
case, Dis.
‘ters shown
the theory
1 activities
the bodies,
»b them of
ng which
The Park
‘that days
ken away
| asked to
howing a
gery,
> Officers
notifying
s for in-
» Eicher
‘icinity,
york un-
ing evi-
-Uuitor,
‘ng’ case
‘oncern-
4ped by
» had not
n, Po-
1 threw
| order
t from
\RING
Masking his diabolical plans under the guise
of honeyed words, this man lured unsuspect-
ing women to their deaths via a matrimonial
agency. He is shown in his cell after voicing
the most appalling murder confession ever
taken by police o
her pleasant home and had attempted to
swindle her with honeyed phrases and
false promises, Certain of Duckworth’s
men knew Powers casually, an appar-
ently law-abiding person who made a
living as a salesman.
Chief Duckworth despatched a detec-
tive and a motorcycle patrolman to
watch Powers’ home, For three hours
they waited, but there was no sign of
the love swindler, Had they flushed their
quarry? Had he given them the slip?
At length their vigil was rewarded.
Owers appeared, walking slowly to-
ward his home, Quickly the officers
ranged themselves alongside of him,
ready for battle, but Powers offered no
resistance and was quietly taken into
Custody,
He chatted easily on the way to the
station, walked unhesitatingly into the
chief’s office and sat down.
He was short and pudgy, with thick
shoulders, thick nec - His hair was
brown with a tinge of gray. His eyes
blinked repeatedly behind thick glasses,
He looked like a small town clerk,
“Where is Mrs, Eicher ?” began Chief
Duckworth.
“Mrs, Eicher ?” Powers repeated.
“Where is Mrs. Eicher, of Park Ridge,
Illinois ?””
“Why should I know ?” .
“Powers, you took Mrs. Eicher and
her children from Park Ridgé’ Now tell
me—what did you do with thern?” “
Powers hesitated, blinking again and-
again,
“You don’t deny you were in Park
Ridge?” oe
“Yes, Chief, I was in Park Ridge. , Let
me tell you about it, I don’t know where
Mrs. Eicher is right now, but I guess
she’s in Colorado, She was going to visit
— people there. The kids are with
ler,” :
“You sent her to Colorado ?”
“Yes,”
DETECTIVE
A detective searched Powers then and
found four newly addressed letters, ready
for mailing. The chief read them. One
was for the matrimonial agency, asking
for a new list of women’s names, Another
was filled with declarations of love,
Promising marriage to a woman in Olean,
New York. The other two were love let-
ters addressed to women in New Bern,
North Carolina, and Bakerstown, Mary-
land. '
Wholesale Love Swindle
CHIEF DUCKWORTH was as-
tounded. Apparently the mild-
mannered Powers conducted his preda-
tory love operations on a big scale, for
here was evidence of wholesale swindling
of women,
“Powers,” he rapped out, “you were
going to take these women away as you
did Mrs. Eicher, weren't you?”
Powers was silent, blinking and fidget-
ing. Then he spoke in his low-pitched,
purring voice: “Say, Chief, about Mrs,
Eicher. A fellow named Charles Rogers
could tell you more about it. He’s from
Pittsburgh. He came to Fairmont and
put Mrs. Eicher on a train for Colorado
there.”
That was enough for Duckworth.
Convinced that the man was lying, he
telephoned Park Ridge officers immedi-
ately. He reported that Powers was in
custody and was telling a series of con-
flicting stories; but there was no trace
of the Ejichers,
For days Herzog had been waiting,
together with Policeman William San-
tell, for the message that Powers had
been trapped. Chief Johnson’s orders
were terse: “Go to Clarksburg, find out
the truth and bring back Powers !”
Herzog thought again of little Anabel
and Greta, skipping along the sidewalk,
happy as only children can be. He did
not lose a minute in getting started for
Clarksburg. He wanted to face the man
who had duped them.
The first questioning of Powers, by
Chief Duckworth and Sheriff Wilford
D. Grimm and their men, accomplished
little. Powers became stubborn and said
he would not talk untif he saw a lawyer,
He told again of “Charles Rogers of
» Pittsburgh.”
A search of Powers’ home revealed
letters from more than thirty women, all
introduced through matrimonial agen-
cies. Photographs of a dozen middle-
aged women and ten pictures of Powers
himself, apparently ready for mailing,
were discovered. " Others beside Mrs,
Eicher had apparently succumbed to the
blandishments of the love swindler. But
the police were not greatly concerned
over these love-lorn ladies, Their im-
mediate job was to find some trace of the
missing widow and her three children,
And then Chief Duckworth got a new
lead. It was reported that on a farm
site held in his wife’s name at the hamlet
of Quiet Dell, Powers had erected a small
building for his own use, calling it a
8arage. That in itself was not signifi-
cant—but the building was five miles
from C larksburg, on the Buckhannon
Pike. Men do not ordinarily build
garages for their personal use five miles
from home.
The searchers found the place without
difficulty. It was a one story frame struc-
ture, set upon a slope. As the doors
were being opened, a deputy kicked idly
at the dust and refuse near the front of
the building. The sunlight glinted mo-
mentarily upon a bit of metal. He picked
it up—a woman’s hairpin, .
Others came running in answer to his
shout. Eager hands rifled the rust.
Three additional hairpins yielded them-
selves to searching fingers,
A Crypt Of Death
“THE doors were Swung open. Flash-
lights cut the gloom. It was the
oddest garage the searchers had ever
seen, There were no automobiles—no
signs of oil drippings on the floor—no
tire marks—no mechanics’ tools. But
they had found women’s hairpins on the
[Continued on page 46]
13
SEEDS E
ee
SSeS ee
Crimson Secrets Of West Virginia’s Bluebeard
premises. What did that discovery
signify?
The police pressed forward. Suddenly
one of the searchers stifled an oath.
Something had struck him in the face.
A flashlight’s beam lit the corner.
“Look!” the man shouted. “It’s a
noose!”
Beneath the sinister length of hemp
were the outlines of a trapdoor in the
floor. No one could doubt its evil sig-
nificance. It was a crude gallows—
strange equipment for a countryside
garage.
Somebody tugged at the trapdoor. It
swung open, disclosing a steep stairway
leading to a darkened cellar. Officers
recoiled as the dank, fetid air assailed
their nostrils,
Flashlights stabbed the darkness, re-
vealing a series of underground cham-
bers, heavily tiled and apparently sound-
proof. There were heavy locks on the
doors—a drain in the floor of each of
the tiny cells. What could it mean?
And then came another amazing dis-
covery—a series of gas jets in each of
the dungeons, Lethal gas chambers!
No longer was there any doubt in the
minds of the searchers of the importance
of their finds. The gallows—the dun-
geon cells—the floor drains—the lethal
gas—the place was a crypt of horrors,
a veritable home of death!
Horrible questions clamored in the
brains of the searchers, What had be-
come of Mrs. Eicher and her three chil-
dren?
As if in answer to the unspoken query,
[Continued from page 13]
a flashlight beam picked up a dark
splotch on a door casing.
“Blood!”
The hoarse whisper of the finder car-
ried a note of doubt. Other eyes ex-
amined the sinister blotch.
“It ts blood!”
Cold chills swept the hardened man-
hunters. Suddenly the, atmosphere of
the dank chamber became nauseating.
The very air breathed of death.
The men pushed .open the door lead-
ing into another walled chamber. Two
trunks there! On the floor a little heap
of articles, bits of cheap jewelry, small
dishes, ribbons.
Woman’s clothing in the first trunk!
A dark dress, a jacket, a blouse, a
chemise; papers, dishes, trinkets. Other
hands opened the second trunk and
pulled forth a torn dress. A flashlight
beam played on a broad blotch of rusty
red across the waist of the dress.
More blood!
The dress had been crumpled and
jammed ‘into the trunk,
And papers in the second trunk revealed
it was Mrs. Eicher’s!
“Children’s clothes here!” A_police-
man brought from the third chamber a
small suitcase. It contained a boy’s
trousers and a girl’s dress.
Chief Duckworth gave orders quickly.
The door sill was to be sawed off and
taken, with parts of the stained plaster
board, to determine positively whether
the stains were of human blood. The
surrounding premises were to be searched
thoroughly. And Powers was to be
brought to the scene.
Chained like some mad beast, Harry F. Powers, West Virginia’s Bluebeard, is
shown in the custody of officers shortly after he had admitted the ghastly slaying
of the Eicher family,
46
Was Harry Powers, West Virginia
Bluebeard, the runaway son of an
Iowa farmer? Neighbors saw a
marked resemblance between Harm
Drenth, above, and the likenesses of
the wanton Clarksburg killer.
“Cornelius Orvil Pierson” had: lost a
little of his bravado when, at the door
of the garage, the hairpins and the blood-
Stained clothing were shown to him.
“I don’t know anything about that,”
he said. He gestured with his manacled
hands and idly kicked at the ground.
Questions were hurled at him. What
was the purpose of the garage? Why
had he said Mrs. Eicher had come only
to Fairmont when her trunks were at
Quiet Dell? Where were Mrs. Eicher
and the children?
More questions—and he admitted
knowing that the blood-stained dress
was Mrs. Ejicher’s! :
A Horrible Discovery
Bw there was still no physical trace
of the missing widow and her chil-
dren. Had the Ejichers been killed—
had that blinking, porcine swindler done
away with little family in his horror
garage?
“Mrs. Eicher went to Colorado,”
Powers insisted. “You'll see. She'll
write back one of these days.”
Police did not believe him, but they
had no direct evidence to prove that he
was lying. And then came one of those
breaks which seem, providentially, to
strike at evildoers. A boy, noticing the
activity around the Powers garage at
Quiet Dell, volunteered the information
that weeks before Powers had engaged
him to help dig a trench from the build-
ing, saying that it was to be used for
drainage purposes.
Duckworth jumped at the new lead.
Shovels and picks were mustered and
both police and townsmen got busy. It
was found that an excavation had been
made which began at the walls of the
mysterious cellar and led down the slope
toward placid Elk Creek.
DARING
Found in the shallow
trench leading from the
death garage, a fifth body
was identified as that of
Mrs. Dorothy Pressler
Lemke, of Worcester,
Mass. Like Mrs. Eicher, Gara
she had been wooed by the Sy ;
mail order lover. nanaat
like, that I want to see you alone. I
will come at night. Do not let the
neighbors know I am coming. Leave
all business transactions to me.
I will come to your home, honey.
I will knock on the door so you will
know me. Gee, honey dear, I have
great anticipation. Till Monda y,
dear. Cornelius.
A Cunning Love Trap
Cw NING phrases and professions of
love had set the trap with sugared
bait. First enjoining secrecy, then clev-
erly leading up to instructions about busi-
ness, the letters were typical-of that vast
army of men and women who prey
upon the credulity of others. It was
readily apparent that a matrimonial
agency wooer had come to claim both
Mrs. Eicher and her possessions, only to
be frightened away by police investiga-
tions, .
Diligently the sleuths pawed over the
mess of correspondence, searching anew
12
he Mac tN hihi
¥ Be Mosttatctine
for Pierson’s address. At length
they found it: “Cornelius Orvil Pier-
son, Box 277, Clarksburg, West Vir-
ginia.”
Thinking that the suspect might pos-
sibly have a criminal record, Chief John-
son immediately telephoned Clarksburg
police. But no “Pierson” was known to
them,
Back again to the rubbish pile went
the investigators. And there they found
still another clue. This time it was the
fragment of a sales slip, bearing the scrib-
bled address, “Harry F. Powers, Clarks-
burg.”
Again the Clarksburg police were
called. This time success crowned the
efforts of the Illinois men, Yes, they said,
they knew Harry F, Powers, and would
get on his trail immediately,
By this time Herzog was deeply con-
cerned over the fate of his little friends,
What had happened to Greta, Anabel and
Harry? Had they been left, stranded and
penniless with their mother in some
southern town, hapless dupes of a schem-
The finding of scattered
hairpins and locks of
human_ hair, left, in the
isolated Sarage first led
lice to suspect foul play
in the Eicher case. Dis-
covery of the letters shown
above clinched the theory
and centered activities
upon a search forthe bodies,
ing villain who intended to rob them of
their property and disappear ?
ord was soon forthcoming which
seemed to clinch this theory. The Park
Ridge State bank notified police that days
before the children had been taken away
Greta had come to the bank and asked to
withdraw her mother’s funds, showing a
letter which was a palpable forgery.
Immediately Park Rid ge officers
burned the wires to Clarksburg notifying
authorities there to hold Powers for in-
vestigation and to look for Mrs. Eicher
and her three children in the vicinity,
Chief Johnson continued to work un-
ceasingly in Park Ridge gathering evi-
dence against the mysterious suitor,
building up a fraud and kidnaping case
while waiting for definite word concern-
ing the widow who had been duped by
the smooth-tongued swindler,
Down in Clarksburg, officials had not
been idle. Springing into action, Po-
lice Chief Clarence A. Duckworth threw
his men on the trail of the mail order
Romeo who had lured Mrs, Eicher from
DARING
oy
aS a we oo
SE
———
a aa
oe A eS NEE
=
ease Fie
bt er eth oe ete
o -
FOW EES, Harry, white, hanged W
» Va. (Harrison Co.) on 3/18/1932
He took 400 women for
FTER SEVERAL WEEKS of
pondering, brunette Mrs. Asta
Buick Eicher decided to take a
‘ step which at first she was reluc-
tant to take. It was a move calcu-
-lated to get her a husband. Mrs.
Eicher was a 43-year-old widow,
slight of build but attractive in a
wistful way, who lived in a com-
’ fortable house in the quiet Chicago
suburb of Park Ridge, Ill.
The. thing that made her decide
“was an advertisement she happened -
to notice.
“Lonely?” it read. “If you are,
there is no need for it. We have
hundreds of respectable men and
‘women on our list who are seek-
_ing friends to write to and become
acquainted with. Just write to the
Friendship Society.” ,
Asta Eicher understood perfectly
that this was what people called a
‘lonely hearts club,” an organiza-
tion aimed’ at establishing connec-
tions between unattached men and
women who were looking for
mates. After all, what was wrong |
with that? Her husband, Henri
Eicher, had died four years earlier.
An expert silversmith as well as a
fine amateur wrestler, he had left
her an estate of some $13,000. By
taking part-time work she had
managed to make ends meet. with-
out dipping too much into that
nest-egg, which she was saving for -
her children’s education.
But the fact of the matter was, ~
she was lonely. Even more im-
_ portant than her own feelings was
the question of her growing chil-
dren. The eldest, Gréta, was 14,
then came 12-year-old Harry and
9-year-old Annabel. Youngsters
. like that needed a father, didn’t
they? Of course they did.
So Mrs. Eicher finally conquered
her dislike of the idea of “looking
for a husband.” Late in January,
1931, she dispatched a letter to the
.Friendship Society giving her age,
description, family status and some
mention of her financial condition.
She was sure her late husband: -
would have approved. The only
person who knew about it other
than herself was Charles O’Boyle, ~
an old friend who rented a room at
her house.
“Please don’t tell a soul about
it,’ she said to him in some em-
. barrassment. “You know how peo-
ple would talk, and besides -I don’t
suppose anything will come of it.”
But something did come of it. She
received several dozen letters as a
result of her inquiry. Some were
from near illiterates who had great
trouble with their spelling, or from
old codgers in their seventies. But
there was one reply that simply
fascinated her. She read it again
and again because {t was written
in such a friendly, heart-warming
way that she could not help but
be impressed. It read:
“My dear unknown friend: Your
description given me by the Friend-
ship Society would suit so very
nice—hence the reason ‘that I am
writing these few lines, hoping they
may be welcome. My age is 42,
height 67 inches. Have clear blue
eyes, medium dark hair and weigh
175 pounds.
“As a civil engineer I have an
income of $400 a month—but in ad-
dition I have a much larger income ©
from oil and gas royalties and other
properties, the details of which I
will give you later if you desire
them. My wife can have everything -
within reason that money can buy,
and above all I expect to give her
that true love and absolute devo-
tion for which every one of us
craves so much in life.
“Death has taken my precious
wife from me, leaving me quite
alone and very lonely. I am long-
ing for someone to take her place,
a ride, then went into the murder game
someone to fill that empty space in
my heart. Women are the sweetest,
purest and most unselfish part of
the human race. They sing the
melodies of human life. Any. man
who has experienced a mother’s
devotion, a wife’s self-sacrificing
love, or a sweetheart’s unselfish af-
fection, knows this is true—so true.
“So I am trying in this manner
to find that one—the only one who
can make home a paradise, a place
of rest, a haven of content where
loved ones wait, and to whom |]
can look forward with pleasure and
anticipation. Who knows but what
you may be that one?
“Won’t you write me? Please do
Any questions that you may care
to ask me will be answered to the
best of my abilities, and anything
you care to tell me will be con-
sidered strictly confidential. I have
a small photo of myself. May I senc
it? And yours will be greatly ap-
preciated—do send it.
“Again, please write. You shal)
never have cause to regret it. Use
the enclosed envelope, and please
tell me lots about yourself.:
“Very anxiously awaiting yours
-I am most sincerely, C. O. Pierson
Box 277, Clarksburg, West Virginia
“P.S.: My full name is Cornelius
- Orvin Pierson, ‘Connie’ for short.”
HiS WAS JUST the sort 0!
reply Asta Eicher had hoped t
get, but had not expected to be sc
lucky. The handwriting was attrac-
tive, but above all it was the choic
of words and the philosophy ex-
pressed that impressed her most. I
gave her a mental picture of a mar
of character and taste who had, like
her, received cruel blows and hac
not been beaten down.by them
‘Also, the fact’ that he was a civi
engineer and remarkably prosper-
ous seemed to indicate that he wa:
looking merely for .affection anc
REESE eee emer
aysyadh +:
“ _
Brilliant detective work upon the
part of these men cracked the Blue-
beard mystery. From left to right:
W. B. Grimm, Harrison county
sheriff, W. Va.; Lieut. H. H. Her-
zog, Park Ridge, Ill; and C. A.
Duckworth, police chief, Clarks-
burg, W. Va.
The earth was turned along the ditch
from the cellar wall outward, while
other workers chopped at the suspicious-
ly new concrete floor of the basement.
Duckworth and Southern directed the
work, with Sheriff Grimm.
A little breeze swept along the slope,
and Duckworth sniffed. He ran along
the slope. Stronger, stronger—an of-
fensive odor. Other police came, noticed
the repellent emanation from the earth.
“Dig along the ditch!” The command
was obeyed vigorously. Shovels turned
the earth steadily.
A hoarse cry: “Something down
here!”
Hands followed a shovel and found
burlap in the mud. It seemed to be a
sack—filled.
“A body!”
The word sent a chill of horror
through the working men, the watching
women. The little slope in peaceful
Quiet Dell was a murderer’s burying
ground!
More mud was torn away, and burlap
ripped aside. There was a body of a
woman, scarcely recognizable as such.
Watchers ran to summon an undertaker.
“Keep digging—remember others are
missing.”
Even as an undertaker removed the
pitiable find from the bottom of the
ditch, there were cries from diggers a
short distance away.
They had found a child’s body swathed
in a sheet! 7
Through the ranks of curious watchers
sounded an ominous muttering.
“Where’s the man who did this?” an
angry voice demanded. Still the spades
turned earth along the ditch.
More cries. 4
“Mr. Undertaker—come here.”
Police and others crowded near: Mud
was torn away from another sheet, and
hands lifted something yielding.
The sheet was torn away. Men.
gasped at the horror of it and turned
away, low, inarticulate cries escaping
them.
There were the bodies of two little
children ... surely of Greta Eicher and
little Anabel! Huddled together, face
downward, hands tied. That was the
fate of two sunny, little girls who, only
DETECTIVE
weeks before, had played on the lawn
of their Park Ridge home.
For minutes no one spoke. There
were tears in the eyes of a tall, blue-
shirted hillman who gazed once and
turned away, walking silently from the
ranks of curious.
Then there were muttered, angry
curses and the name “Powers.”
The undertaker spoke.
“The woman’s hands were tied behind
her back. The wrists of the children
were tied. It looks as if the woman
was strangled and beaten with a hanimer
or a club. And the boy’s head was
struck hard, too.”
As if in confirmation of the words,
a wrench and two hammers were found
in the ditch the next moment.
Unmasking “Bluebeard” Powers
VEN as police left to face Powers
with the damning facts, the news
was flashed to the world, a story of in-
credible horror. “A woman, her three
children, helpless, lured from their home
and beaten and strangled to death!”
The world knew that a fiend lived, a
beast dwelling among men. The Romeo
of the mails had come to the end of his
trail of trickery.
Held by strong hands of police,
Powers stood beside what remained of
Asta, Greta, Anabel and Harry Eicher
in the undertaker’s morgue..
“Powers, you killed them!”
He shuddered.
“Isn't it terrible?” he said. “I don’t
know these people at all.”
The undertaker’s findings were told.
The woman, identified as Mrs. Eicher,
had been strangled and her head struck
with a hammer or similar object.
The girls bore marks of strangling.
The boy’s skull had been broken in two
places by heavy blows.
Then—the pudgy Powers was taken
to Quiet Dell, to the charnel trench,
and his house of horror.
He was led again through the fetid
death chambers of his own making. He
stood beside the ditch which had hidder
the bodies. He stood again in the ~
morgue, Through it all a mask con-
cealed the fiendish nature. which lurked
behind his impassive gaze. Powers kept
his composure, evaded questions and
mumbled about “my lawyer.”
Confession? He would confess noth-
ing, he said.
“Find that guy, Charles Rogers,” he
said. “He might be able to tell you who
those people were that were killed.”
Herzog took charge of the effort to
obtain a confession from Powers, at
midnight.
“I can trap him into saying some-
thing,” Herzog told Chief Duckworth.
“Let me have him alone for a half hour
or so.”
The chief and Sheriff Grimm agreed.
Herzog stepped into the sheriff’s room
where Powers was seated on the edge
of a couch, and closed the door.
The pudgy form moved a little. The
bland blue eyes gazed at the Park Ridge
officer. The protecting spectacles no
longer magnified them.
“Hello,” he said.
Herzog kept silent.
Cries from among the 3,000 persons
milling outside the courthouse could be
heard. .
“They want you,” said Herzog.
Powers stared fixedly for a moment.
Then the bland “Connie Pierson” van-
re from those eyes and a fiend peered
out
Herzog’s face was grim. His little
“pal,” Anabel, had been torn by those
pudgy hands. Greta, who had grown
from babyhood to girlhood almost before
his eyes, had tried, with her little, bound
Trustingly, Harry, Anabel. and Greta Eicher set out from Park Ridge with the
man who was to be their foster father. He repaid their trust with the most
brutal murder of modern times.
47
oe
See
BEL
Fe
=>
peas
hands to fight off that monster. Young
Harry had screamed, and the fiend had
thrust rags into the boy’s mouth, then
struck him again and again with a ham-
smer. Asta Eicher, fond mother, had
been tortured, beaten by him,
The detective’s blood boiled. He
wanted certainty that the state of West
Virginia would administer justice to the
man, and justice for murderers in that
state is a hempen noose which closes
around the throat, breaks the neck, and
rids the world of one who kills.
“Powers, you're going to sign your
name to a confession of the murders of
the Eicher family,” said Herzog.
He looked at the floor, “I’m going to
talk to my lawyer.”
“Greta, Anabel, Harry—those chil-
dren were my friends—” continued the,
detective. “Powers, I see them in my
mind now. Greta and Anabel in their
beach pajamas, just as they were when
you carried them away. They are calling
to me as I pass their house. And now—
Powers—I’m looking into your eyes and
I see there Greta and Anabel and Harry
—I see them looking at you, crying,
screaming, falling, covered with blood.
Powers—you killed them!”
Cracking The Mystery
‘TE fiend blinked as if to prevent
his accuser from looking into his
eyes. He fidgeted and nervously clawed
at his hair. “Give me time,” he whined.
“You didn’t give those children any
time to live!” :
A roar from the mob which milled
about the jail filled the room. “Lynch
him!” came the ominous cry. ;
Powers shuddered. Herzog leaped at
the opportunity. He stood over him
hurling questions as fast as he could
talk. He spoke of Mrs. Eicher and the
children, calling them by name. He
trapped him into confused lies about the
Park Ridge house.
Powers was perspiring now. He mum-
bled half hearted replies, was beaten
down with a barrage of denunciations.
Again the ominous roar of the mob
filled the little room as guards, armed
with tear bombs and machine guns,
fought back the mob which sought to
wrest the arch fiend from official hands.
Herzog .called Chief Duckworth,
Sheriff Grimm and the state police. The
grilling went on. Beads of clammy sweat
stood out on the forehead of the fiend,
but the officers gave him no rest. Hostile
eyes ringed him on every side. The fury
of their questions beat like hammers on
his brain. Hopelessly trapped—back to
the wall—he fought, striving to fend off
ae doom which was closing in upon
im.
The end came at dawn. Perspiring,
disheveled and distrait he faced his ques-
tioners. His eyes were glassy; his nerves
frayed. Suddenly, he broke. “For God’s
sake, let me alone!” he screamed. “Let
me sleep. I did it! I’ll sign!” His voice
trailed off in a paroxysm of sobbing.
An affidavit was quickly drawn and
Powers _ signed it. The document read:
I did, in the month of July, 1931,
murder Mrs. Asta Eicher and her
three children, Greta, Harry and
Anabel, by using a hammer and
strangulation. I further state that
my wife and sister-in-law knew
nothing of my plans and are inno-
cent of anything in connection with
the murders. I make this affidavit
of my own free will and accord,
without any threats or promise of
immunity.
48
It was a simple statement, but it em-
bodied one of the most horrible crimes
ever committed in this country. Later
it was learned that the infamous Powers
had kept Mrs. Eicher and the children
tied in the murder garage for days with-
out food or water. The unspeakable
torture which they endured before fall-
ing victim to the deadly noose and ham-
mer will probably never be known.
With a brief sleep, Powers gained-new
strength and courage. He repudiatéd his
confession, claiming that he didnot
know what he was signing; but he could
not lie himself out of the damning facts.
Further information revealed that four
women were preparing to “marry” him—
a marriage which doubtless meant the
espousal of death. In his home were,
found a list of 155 women’s names—all
dupes of the murderous Bluebeard’s
honeyed letters.
And then when it seemed that the.
case was virtually closed, save for the ~
final chapter in the courts, a new sen-
sation broke. Herzog was at the police
station when Chief Duckworth received
an excited visitor.
“Chief! Come quick! We’ve found an-
other body!”
Another Gruesome Discovery
HE men raced to Quiet Dell. An-
other form swaddled in cloth had
been brought from the charnel trench
near Powers’ building. Another woman
victim had been wrested from the mur-
der farm!
The condition of the body indicated
the woman had been slain before the
Eichers’ day of doom. Bluebeard had
killed five persons within six or eight
weeks!
GUN GIRL
Admitting that she shot him,. Lois
Thompson, 19 - year - old Oklahoma
co-ed, recently was found guilty on
charges of assault with intent to kill
Daniel Shaw, Chinese student. She
maintained that he was the author of
mysterious extortion notes threaten-
ing her with death unless she met de-
mands for money. She was sentenced
to serve thirty days in jail.
Again sleuths examined the many let-
ters and papers among Powers’ effects.
They found letters from a Mrs. Dorothy
Pressler Lemke, of Northboro, Mass.,
which said she was ready to marry
Powers. Phone calls brought word that
Mrs. ‘Lemke had vanished.
Again police grilled Powers. Again he
was stubborn, néeding more grilling.
Then he admitted that the woman was
Mrs. Lemke—and that he had brought
her there.
The discovery of still another victim
started a fresh train of horrible specula-
tion. How many other unfortunates had
perished under the hands of this bestial
killer? But to all queries Powers merely
shrugged his thick shoulders and said,
“No use digging at my place at Quiet
; Dell. No more bodies there.” He stressed
the word “there.” Elsewhere? He would
talk no more. He engaged a lawyer and
prepared to try to save his life in the
West Virginia courts.
The swinish Romeo’s crimes caused
police of many cities to seek traces of
him on their records. The results
brought startling information about his
life. As Joseph Gildeau he had swindled
a woman, through’a matrimonial agency,
of nearly $5,000 and had been jailed at
Chicago Heights, IIl., in 1925. He had
served a jail term in Mansfield, Ohio.
Newspaper photographs stirred the
memories of country folks in Iowa, some
of whom raised the question as to
whether Harry Powers was Harm
Drenth, son of an immigrant who had
come to America from Holland twenty
years ago.
The immigrant farmer was located in
a village in the northeastern part of the
state. He said that his son had been
“a bad boy” and if he was guilty of
the murders charged to Powers, “should
be hanged.”
A neighbor positively identified photos
of Powers as the Dutch boy who had
lived at his home pending the arrival
of his parents from Holland; but when
Powers was confronted he would neither
affirm nor deny the story. Was Harry F.
Powers once known as Harm Drenth?
Police were as much at sea as ever.
Then Chief Johnson of Park Ridge
flew to Clarksburg, bringing fresh light
on Powers’ activities. Johnson revealed
that the human butcher had been victim-
izing women for at least six years. The
question naturally suggested itself: When
had he begun murdering women? How
many had been his victims?
The strange case of Marie Wick, a
country girl who was assaulted and
brutally beaten to death in a Fargo
hotel, was called to official attention. A
hotel clerk, William Gummer, was con-
victed of the foul crime, but a mysterious
stranger, attentive to Marie on the train
and who later figured as a possible ac-
complice in the case, was never found.
Was Harry Powers that mysterious
stranger?
The various questions arising out of
Powers’ arrest were never answered.
For when he walked to the gallows at
the West Virginia penitentiary at
Moundsville on March 18, 1932, the in-
famous slayer made no statement.
Stolidly he took his place upon the
scaffold, submitted quietly while his
arms and legs were tightly bound. A
bag-like mask was fitted over his head;
the noose adjusted. A moment later the
trap boomed hollowly and the most
ruthless slayer America has ever known
was dead.
DARING
e q
we
~ “
—
space in |
sweetest,
. part of
sing the “
\ny. man
mother’s .
icrificing °°
alfish af-
true.
nner
who
1 a place
it where
whom I
sure and
out what *
‘lease do.
nay care -
od to the
anything
be con-
i. I have
ay Isend
2atly ap-
You shall |
t it’ Use °
d please
£..
ig yours,
Pierson,
Virginia. -
Yornelius
: short.”
4
sort of
- hoped to ’
to be so
is attrac- ~
he choice
yphy ex-.
te
pic fea i Soult net ert
¢ most. It 7.
of aman /
had, like.
and had
xy them.
sa civil -
sper-
> ‘was
uon and
ok Ay ER
Ss
BARS sh A:
home life, and certainly showed
that he could easily support a
family.
Mrs. Eicher waited with some
anxiety for Mr. Pierson’s picture
to come, and when it arrived in the
mail she tore off the wrapping hur-
riedly. What with all of Mr. Pier-
son’s other advantages she hardly
expected him to be handsome, and .
indeed he was not. The portrait
showed a plump-faced man with
neatly-combed hair and eyes that
protruded a bit. But he was decent-
looking, she told herself, and it ap-
. peared to her that there was a
~ kindly, benevolent expression about
So Asta Eicher had no qualms
about writing back to Mr. Pierson.
She fully realized that this was a
two-way business in which each
of the participants had to satisfy
the other. She sent her picture, and
along with it a letter over which
she labored for a long time, want-
ing it to give just the right’ effect.
It was a cautious letter, for she was
not throwing herself at anyone.
It gave considerable information
about herself, and in a nice way it
prongs, 3 a number of polite in-
quiries about Mr. Pierson. It was
entirely possible, she realized, that
he might already have a number
of dependents—might even have
bad habits such as excessive use of ©
alcohol, which would make him an
unsatisfactory stepfather.
She hoped her picture and the -
letter she wrote both did her just-—
ice. The reply she got from Pierson
only a few days later was reassur-
ing to say. the least.
“Your lovely letter was received
with profoundest interest and re-
spect,” he wrote in part. “Your
picture bears out every impression
that I got from the words you
wrote; that is, that you are a
woman attractive, intelligent and
Flabby Harry Pow-
ers: lost -most- of
his glamor . ofter
hours. of. grilling
in: five :: murders.
&. of her hus-
ndreds of miles
Uxbridge, Mass.,
‘ssler Lemke was
sensations. Mrs.
ld divorcee, had
‘cent months that °
to do something
ian, she felt lost
d the house. She
1usband, Lemke,
ter background) .
through the medium of a correspond=
dence club. It had worked well for
some years, but eventually «liscord had
set in and the pair were divorced, Since
then Mrs. Lemke had occupied herself
as a paid companion to an elderly lady,
but this left something to be desired.
While it was true that her first “mail
order marriage” had not wound up suc-
cessfully, it had not been an ‘entire
failure either and early in 1931 she
resolved to try the same medium again.
She wrote to a correspondence club.
Pretty soon she _ Was exchanging
letters with a man in West Virginia
named Cornelius O. Pierson who had
an ability to put the most beautiful
sentiments on paper. He wrote her, for
example, that “woman are the sweetest,
purest and most unselfish part of the
human race. They sing the melodies of
human life.” ;
This sort of ‘thing charmed Mrs.
Lemke. She learned with interest that
‘Mr. Pierson was a professional man, a
civil engineer who had an income in
excess of $7000 a year. That was-good
going any time, much less in the de-"
pression year of 1931. Dorothy Lemke
learned with some trepidation that he
was 42, nine years younger than she.
She knew there was no use kidding
about her age, and she wrote him the
truth about that and everything else.
She was 51,.a little plumper than neces-
sary, but everybody said she had a most
pleasant personality. .
Also, she let Pierson know that she
was anything but destitute. She had
about $6000 in cash, plus $8000 in bonds
and $3000 worth of jewelry, which
added up to a neat $17,000. Still, after
she got a few charming letters from
Pierson she was worried that the dif-
ference in their age might cool him.
e
Crowds gathered at combined grocery and home of Powe
iad
It didn’t seem to cool him at all. “A
mere matter of a few years’ difference
in age is of no consequence to me,” he
wrote her. “The important thing is
mutual trust and affection, and this is
what I am seeking above all else.”
What a perfect gentleman he seemed
to be!. The correspondence continued .
and grew warmer. At last Mr. Pierson
wrote that he would be honored if she
would permit him to come and visit
her. “I already feel that we are old
friends,” was the way he put it, “and
am looking forward to the opportunity
of paying my respects to you in
, e
person.”
This naturally threw Mrs. Lemke
into considerable excitement, She made
preparations for the event, eager to
meet him and yet wondering if after
all the age difference might not be too
much and he might decide on a
younger woman.
In ‘his correspondence with Mrs.
Lemke, Pierson made no mention of the
fact that he was also corresponding
with Mrs. Eicher. Nor, when he wrote
to Mrs. Eicher, did he say anything
about Mrs. Lemke. Possibly this was
natural, since a man looking fox a mail-
order bride might be expected to shop
around a bit.
As for Asta Eicher in Park Ridge, she
had proceeded with the greatest dis-
cretion and at length had exchanged
letters with Pierson for five months.
At last most of her doubts were stilled
and she felt the time had come for the
personal meeting he requested. Her
roomer, O’Boyle, left and found lodg-
ings elsewhere. On June 22, Cornelius
Pierson arrived in Park Ridge.
Mrs. Eicher met him on the front
porch. Pleasant but reserved, she
greeted him with a handclasp. A
couple of the neighbors noticed the
chubby man who entered the Eicher
house“ that day, but no one had any
idea who he was.~ sare
Mrs. Eicher found Pierson.to be a
plump, jovial man, very courteous and
thoughtful. She regarded the meeting
AS a success in every way and agreed
to.marry him. He was jolly with the
children, amusing them with quips and
stories, and he also displayed a shrewd
business sense that was not lost ‘on
Asta Eicher. This was a relief to her,
for she did not want to hand over the
control of her affairs to a man of no
ability in such things. She gave him
the deed to her house and said that as
soon as they were married she would
depénd on him to handle her nest-egg
for the children’s benefit, :
Pierson was seen to leave five days
later, and there was considerable
speculation among the neighbors as to
_ Whether he was a relative or what.
Mrs. Eicher, sensitive about possible
ridicule, enlightened no one about that.
Two. days after Pierson’s departure,
Mrs. Eicher herself was ‘seen to leave
the place, carrying a traveling bag. She
left her children in the care of a sitter,
Elizabeth Abernathy. She did not even
tell Miss Abernathy where she was
going, saying merely that she was “off
on a trip” and would be back in a
week. By this time’ the folks in the
neighborhood were beginning to won-
_ der what it was all about.
“Whereg your mother gone to?” a
playmate asked. 14-year-old Greta
Eicher, . ,
“She’s visiting relatives in Denver,”
Greta replied.
- Doubtless that was what Greta
thought, but it turned out she was
wrong. A few days later Miss Aber-
rs, where several bloody garments were found.
oro
Winns
is £
* Ce
Bs set = ote
they
x st
nathy received a letter postmarked
Clarksburg, W. Va., and signed “Asta
Eicher.”
“Dear Miss Abernathy,” it read, “I
‘have sold the house and have got the
money already, but it is necessary for
me to wait for certain details here, so
I am sending Mr. Pierson to get the
‘children. I have given him instructions
toact for me, so he will know what
to do, and’ he will pay you for your
help.” ;
Miss Abernathy was puzzled, for
when she left Mrs. Eicher said she
would return herself, and she made no
explanation of her change in plans.
Obviously she had sold the house_and
seemed to intend to live elsewhere, but
she explained neither why she was
moving nor told where.
HE VERY NEXT DAY, Mr. Cor-
nelius Pierson arrived. He jovially
introduced himself to Miss Abernathy
and greeted the children uproariously.
He paid off the sitter without a word
of enlightenment as to what' was afoot.
Then he piled the three happy children
into his car and drove off.:
On his way through town, Pierson
stopped at the Park Ridge State Bank
and Greta jumped out with a letter
which she carried into the bank.
Teller B. E. Kaulfuss read the letter.
It instructed the bank to hand over the
Police Chief Duckworth (in uniform) and Detective Southern knew
had no case against suspect unless they found one of victims.
,
funds in Mrs. Eicher’s savings and
checking accounts, as she was closing
them out. Enclosed with the letter was
a blank check signed: “Asta - Buick
Eicher.”
Kaulfuss looked it over, then shook
his head. Always previously at the
bank, Mrs. Eicher’s signature had been
“Asta B. Eicher.” The teller handed the
check back to the girl.
“You tell your mother that she’ll
have to sign the check in the usual
way,” he said. “Then we'll refund her
money.”
The girl agreed and left. But strange-.
ly, nothing further was heard from
Mrs. Eicher. As weeks wore on, neigh-
bors and friends began to wonder and
worry. Bank Teller Kaulfuss himself
was mystified. As he got to thinking
about it, it struck him that the signa-
ture of Mrs. Eicher was not only differ-
ent as to its wording, but that the
penmanship was also somewhat dif-
ferent.
One morning in the first week in
August, almost two months later, the
vacant Eicher place in Park Ridge sud-
‘denly became a scene of activity.
Cornelius Pierson showed up. He had
a workman with him, and the two
began to move furniture from the house
into the garage- at the rear. Pierson,
however, did little of the work and
confined his labors mosfly to directing
Mrs. Dorothy Lemke left with "Pier-
son," was never again. seen alive.
the other men, apparently not having
much taste for strenuous movement in
such hot weather. pds
By this time the neighbors were
definitely suspicious of the mysterious .
Mr. Pierson. The main thing that both-
erea them was that no one had heard’
from Mrs. Eicher, who seemed to have
-dropped completely out of sight. She
had several close friends in the neigh- -_
borhood, but not one of them had
received so much as a postcard. Then
too, there was this talk of her going to |
Denver when she really had gone to
West Virginia.
q
A man living a couple of doors away
strolled’ over and spoke to Pierson.
“How are Mrs. -Eicher and her chil- ;
dren?” he inquired.
, Pierson turned pale blue eyes on him.
“Oh—fine, just fine,” he said heartily.
“Now, if you'll excuse me I have to |
“get busy on this furniture.” E
It seemed to the other man that |
Pierson was evasive and did ‘not want
to talk. By noon~the neighborhood °
was buzzing with talk and speculation. :
O’Boyle, the former Eicher roomer who }
now lived in the next block, at last dis-
closed that Mrs. Eicher had carried on
a courtship by mail. Possibly Pierson ¥
'
Qe
q
2 Se sets.
el
Moh The quintuple ‘sla
“= horrifying confession ¢
worth (at right) and
discerning. Somehow, I already feel
sure that you could find ‘it in your
heart to become attracted to me, and
that we may find in each other an end
to our loneliness.”
This Pierson fellow could really put
words together in a most complimentary
way. The letter went on to say that he
was a regular every-Sunday member
of the Baptist church, that he eschewed
liquor as an invention of the devil, and
was quite alone in the world.
One of the things that flattered Mrs.
Eicher was the fact that Mr. Pierson
seemed to have no doubt at all that she
would: make an ideal mate for him.
Most of his epistolary efforts seemed to
be aimed to convince her in a modest ‘
way that he was worthy of her, and
could make her happy. ,
Despite her pleasure at what he
wrote, Asta Eicher was cautious. Matri-
‘mony was a critical step, particularly
at her age, and she was not going to
jump\ into it without taking many a
careful look ahead. With this as a start,
she decided to let Pierson continue to
write her, so that they ‘could get to
know more about each other. Of one
thing she wanted to be dead certain—
that he liked children. He already knew
about her three youngsters, but she
made it a point to go into some detail
about them, sending along a snapshot
of them and describing their character-
istics.
In his letters, Mr. Cornelius Pierson
Na, euiietinmmnieatinase aie ease ae Ae
yer
(center) ® makes: his
0 Police Chief Duck: .
Detective Southern,
made it plain that he not merely
tolerated children but loved them. He
topped it off by sending a personal let-
ter to 14-year-old Greta Eicher that
simply charmed her. ‘
“What a nice man he is!* she ex-
claimed. Ky hues .
Her mother thought so too. Her’
roomer, Charles O’Boyle, could not help
noticing that as spring came on Asta
Eicher seemed to be showing a new
interest in life. She sang as she worked
in the kitchen. She even began playing
her violin again—something she had
Five bodies. were found behind Powers’ mystery shack (center background).
. band.
;
PA cae A aS
not done since the death of her hus-
MEANWHILE hundreds of miles |
away in North Uxbridge, Mass.,
Mrs. Dorothy A. Pressler Lemke was |
experiencing similar sensations. Mrs.
Lemke, a 51-year-old divorcee, had |
grown so lonely of recent months that |
she finally decided to do something
about it.
A large, jolly woman, she felt lost |
without a man around the house. She ;
had met her first husband, Lemke, |
HA mw me
—_
with “Pier-
ain. seen alive.
tly not having
Ss movement in
eighbors were
the mysterious
hing that both-
one had heard’
eemed to have
of sight. She
; in the neigh-
of them had
vostcard. Then
of her going to
’ had gone to
of doors away
e- to Pierson.
and her chil-
1e eyes on him.
said heartily.
me I have to
_re.”
ier man that
did not want
neighborhood
.d speculation.
* -r roomer who
2k, at last dis-
ad carried on
ssibly Pierson
Oe i eee meee:
a Aa ee
aro
was the man with whom she had corre-
sponded. Yet how could they be sure
he had any right to be taking over
Asta Eicher’s furniture?
That afternoon the ‘word reached .
Police Chief Harold W. Johnson of
Park Ridge, and he decided to look into
it as a matter of routine. He drove
over to the Eicher place and found the
fat man still there.
“Glad to meet you, chief,” he said,
extending a beefy paw. “My name’s
Cornelius O. Pierson. I’m from Fair-
mount, West Virginia.”
‘I see,” Johnson nodded. “I just
wanted to clear up one point, You're
authorized to move this furniture?”
“Why, sure,” Pierson grinned. He
dug into his pocket and pulled out a
legal paper, signed by Mrs. Eicher, that
satisfied Johnson. “I’m doing this with
her authority, you see.” zs
At this moment another car pulled
up. It contained a real estate man
representing the holder of.a small mort-
8age on the Eicher home. He walked
up and informed Pierson that the
furniture might be attached if the
mortgage was not paid.
“Well, we'll settle that here and
now,” Pierson said. “A hundred and
fifty, you say?” He pulled out-a fat
wallet and peeled off the amount, hand-
ing it over, Then he turned to J ohnson.
“Chief, Mrs. * Eicher ‘speaks. very
highly of her friends here in Park
Ridge. I’m busy now, but I wonder if I
could pay you a visit tomorrow ‘and
have a little talk with you.”
As a matter of fact, Chief Johnson
wanted to have a little talk -with this
puzzling stranger. He realized he had
nothing on which he could hold the -
man—nothing at all but vague sus-
picions that added up to nothing con-
crete. So he agreed. Maybe Pierson
would clear up all these doubts on the
morrow. :
But tomorrow came, and Pierson did
not show up. Johnson made inquiries
and found that the man had vanished
again. Apparently his suggestion about
a “little talk” had been made merely to
lull the chief's suspicions. Now they
were anything but lulled. What he
wanted above all was information that
Mrs. Eicher and her children were safe
and well, but he had no idea even
where they were.
Johnson had a check made on hoteis
in Chicago and suburbs, but there was
no trace of Pierson. The chief learned
that Mrs. Eicher actually did have a
relative in Denver, and another at La
Jolla, Cal. Determined to settle the
question once and for .all, he wired
these people. Neither of them, he soon
fm Sa
With Chief Duckworth, Mrs. L
*
&
aia as I tS
emke's sister visits the rural _ murder shack.
Excavation is at pipeline where all five of the victims were found buried.
discovered, had heard from Mrs, Eicher
for weeks and had no idea where she
was. i
Grimly, Johnson shot a wire to the
police of Fairmont, W. Va., asking them
to make a quiet check on Cornelius O.
Pierson. Very quickly an answer came
back:
“NO ONE BY THAT NAME LISTED
HERE. MUST BE SOME MISTAKE.”
Johnson was not particularly sur-
prised. By now he was convinced that
this Pierson fellow was a thorough-
going phony who was up to no good,
and the fact that he had given a fake
address seemed to prove it, Already a
week had passed since Pierson disap-
peared, and the chief was gravely con-
cerned about the fate of the four
Kichers. At last he determined to
stretch his authority a bit. He and his
men forced a window and broke into
the vacant Eicher home, making a
thorough (Continued on page 74)
'
at
ia awres
etme ass TTS Ta
er
at
aATLO
"08 6f ‘ OQUeAON ~*
j
in passion: Husband
Equation
“@ SERIES of sustained, violent screams
ginia mining community, a little before midnight. -
“Help! Help! Help!” The frantic plea rose to siren
pitch, stopped priefly. Then it -was heard again—this
time tremulous, the voice breaking like that of an infant
who fears the night. ae ;
“Murder!” : : : ;
Now silence. Not the easy silence of a few minutes
before. A word hung like a bloated time-bomb ort the
night air. From down below came the muffied toll of
the village clock announcing the hour of midnight as
husky miners converged on the small white cottage at
the edge of town. : :
Rapid footsteps merged with confused mutterings as,
one after another, the men recognized their neighbors
heading towards the Thames cottage.
Also audible now were the broken,
of a woman.
convulsive sobs
She lay prone
on the ground, not more than five feet from the open
garage door. And she was not alone.
' Her head and arms rested on the chest of a well-
known figure in Brooke Count —Louis Thames, Pearl’s
44-year-old husband. It was obvious that Thames was
not aware .of her weeping. Lying flat on his back, his
head turned to one side, unseeing eyes staring at the
moon, it was “certain he would never again respond to
the caresses of his young, attractive wife: ‘
Pearl Thames slowly raised her head, stared at the
corpse as if unwilling to believe what she saw, then
turned to face the small crowd-that’had collected about
HE WAS "CRAZY ABOUT LOUIS !”"—
And a persistent sheriff found that
another attraction for him in Louis
sad wile<=2; husband and wile, plus lover =3; less murdered
shattered the ere i
stillness of Windsor Heights, the small West Vir- ~
ng
husband == 2; less executed leas si ae : _- see 3
: - = 0! By WILL HERMAN MURRAY
“her. Then, as if the m
‘hen, : ewcomers re
to Baieaaie she said hoarsely: ‘He’s con eae or
ice: s le es her face which had rested Epebeins he
spe oe es was ee with blood which Mester
.. ot snten of hair from her temples an
“Lou’s dead!” shi oy
Ses e repeated. “I
She took two ste
ps towards
gave way and she dropped to - pea a e
Saat Sep ee plete en
: at ha
cee woman, her brown eyes porpbiem a
-Aiaiciapiee rags absently rubbed the blood free ee
ae tabi small white handkerchief. ae
panos u, . omiaagturs taken a ride to Warwood.
F Ww h i. isit som: i ir
“Byer fe Windsor Heights, Mrs. ore Mew cn
Go sates all right. We were just Heep
Sg) Si ae -about it a little bit. Then when we :
“igs bibs ae! asked me if ['d go out and ae
x im that I w: i
apr adage y. And then, after that me —
See — sheriff prompted. oo
crag Behn sucked in her breath as she naueht sigh
PU Shea ‘ined handkerchief. With the slow i :
ed nee casei Les her has little to live for ae
“Then the cloth and placed it on :
parca, ae Sal eat “T started towards <i ie
ho a a would follow me. But suddenl: nt
: turned around and saw Lou. ine on
& . - I'd better call the
PEARL THAMES
She yelled
oT fo Hy
she eon pep when Louis was shot by ¢ man>
—and then sobbed over his body.
way ee
OR ss
BA *M pesuey feqTuM fyUedy
as
‘OVURWVHd) ZiVvud
THE THAMES COTTAGE—
tarted towards him, [I heard some-
In the house (upper left) a
: iat
from there or I'll kill you!” I
t see who it was.”
the voice, at all?”
“Nothing. I didn’t
the ground. When is
body yell, ‘Get away”
Jooked around, but I couldn’
“Did you recognize
Mrs. Thames shook her head.
recognize a thing.”
“{ see. What else?”
“Well, I went right to Lou,
steps—like somebody running
head. “It all happen
was dead until I started
his pulse. After that I guess I start
don’t remember.”
ed. “All right.”
tently for a moment.
should want to kill your
Mrs. Thames shook her
“J understand he was P
The woman shrugged.
had for a murderer to get a
he generally put in the
Lowe scribbled a few n
tablet. “You say he was popular,
were some of the people closest to
ubbed her brow.
ms with us. Been with us for
was seventeen, when he took
“Frank Pratz. He roo’
about five years—since he
a job at the Windsor Coal
“I see,” Lowe said evenly.
ship to your husb
“He was crazy a
of months ago—and
like his own boy.”
“Ig Frank home now?”
“No, he’s been staying wi
was trying to find a job for
of the river.”
Lowe arose. “Pete Conner, e
anyway. I heard some foot- “And what was his relation-
away.” She shook her
I didn’t even realize Lou
talking to him—and then I felt
ed screaming—but I
bout Lou. He lost his job
Lou insisted on keeping him just
th the Conners. Pete Conne
him over on the Ohio side
He studied the woman in-
“Ig there any reason why anyone
h? Well, Conner lives jus
top in on him myself a little
head. “People liked Lou.”
up on the hill, I believe. lls
retty well to do.”
“There wasn’t much that he
t. The money he made mining
k. He was pretty thrifty.”
otes in a small, hard-backed
Mrs. Thames. Who
oner’s assistant pre
1 to the county seat a
all hours of July 16, 1936
young man said when the
“Pellets must have gone righ
the sheriff found a cor
paring the body for remova
burg. This wa
“Shotgun,” the sober-
sheriff approached him.
to the heart.”
Lowe knelt besi
rawness where Louis Th
“Shot at clese range,”
s in the sm
“Me, of course—and
s about the same age as our
le of years older.”
Pearl Thames r
our son, and Frank. Frank’
son, you know—just a coup
de the body and examined the go
ames’ shirt had been cut away
he said grimly. “The wound
N
— a small area—right in the
wee senmerouited Mrs. Thames’ details of the killing.
catte oe =i bprasscca re — ont the side of the
: t started ‘or the house. Seeing Thame:
a with closing the garage door, he ed ved
The cieoractneed sng a
, i placed three shotgun lets
7 pert ands hand. ‘ Could be from a Guitoe-aarae =
os e kind most in use around here.” ,
eps ri a the coroner’s assistant and helped
Scheie as 'Yy into the ambulance. The sheriff stared
eee ks i mortal remains of Louis Thames. passed
M ‘eaeanaae : man was not handsome, but there was
ee ut him which was visible in more than
oud re uscular, physical makeup. His face, even in
. wed the combination which probably had
given Thames his :
a good sense of hi =— ity—strength of character and
heart region, as you
Low i
Sie ad ie os ample reason why people would not
*etaniarhea arm Louis Thames. The job now was to de-
— pun 4 someone had wanted to kill him.
ieee. Then “ina sa up the incline beyond the white cot-
arted towards the home of Pete Conner.
ETE
Pp CONNER was a man who seemed sensitive
about hi
pi oe Even after getting out of bed
itor, he wore a black, neatly pressed
a ok ie
ogame Benner ge a
» wondered how it was that a woman
said she had not seen her husband's sl —
later describe him as “much taller than Frank.”
bathrobe and a pair of fairl i
é f yy new slippers. He was run-
— a comb through his thick blond hair as he entered
. living pei to greet Sheriff Lowe.
e@ motioned a plump, middle-aged woman in
sp \ to the
next room. “Thanks, Mrs. Cooke,” he said softly. The
—. nodded, then started for the hallway towards
e kitchen. Conner turned to Lowe. “You met my
nemeeeeeoe didn’t you?”
we smiled. “Yes, but I came to talk
at sa Pratz. Is he here now?” ah aa
onner shook his head as he sank into a lar i
‘No, ¥rank’s gone up to Youngstown.” aa
Plc did he leave?”
mner shrugged. “Yesterday mornin i
g. I sent him wi
there to see a foreman I know in one of the steel pleat
lab i trying to get him a job.”
wr “ > +
ae frowned. “Have you heard from him since
“Why, yes.’ Conner arose, crossed the room to a smail
writing desk. “I got a wire from him last night around
— He handed the telegram to the sheriff.
; e just says he s staying over. I gave him hotel money
a one night. Conner smiled. “I guess it’s the first time
e poor kid’s slept in a hotel—in a city, anyhow—and
you know how these young folks are. He probably took
full advantage of the opportunity.” ;
; rie noted the name of the’ hotel in his tablet, then
00 up at Conner. “Pratz (Continued on page 69)
As Jiggs Wise walked tautly up
to this explosive carload of ‘killers,
he thought fast and pretended to be
~ only going to give them a ticket for
speeding. For, if he for a moment let
the men know he recognized them, a
certain blast of bullets was bound
to follow. Playing his hunch, Ji
Wise holstered his gun and pulled
out his book of summonses. _
“Where you think you’re going—
to a fire?” he asked, acting out the
part of a dumb harness-b
“We weren't speeding, were we,
officer?” Kepler mockingly inquired.
- “Oh, no—not if you don’t call ex-
ceeding the speed limit twice over
speeding,” Wise answered, as he put
a foot on the running board.
* The skinny man in the back seat
grimaced. “Cut the comedy and give
~ him a smoke, Dutch,” he said.
~~
e
’
A eT i SO
“Okay,” the blond-haired rian an-
swered. ‘“Here’s one.” and, like
magic the automatic appeared in Kep-
ler’s hand and pointed at Wise’s heart.
“Get in here, you!” Kepler rasped.
He uttered an oath, reached out with
his left hand, grabbed the motorcycle
= patrolman by the back of his uni-
form collar and dragged him into the
car. He then forced Wise on
the floorboard and put both feet on the
prostrate lawman.
“Thought you’d give’ us a ticket,
huh?” the iver snarled at Wise.
“You'll be lucky if you don’t get a
ticket to hell yourself.” +
“What’s the idea?” Wise panted
_from the floor. “You fellows can’t
get away with this.”
Paying no attention to the officer
other than to keep. his heavy feet
firmly planted on Wise’s spine, Kep-
ler said: “Get going. We’ve got a guest
that wants to go places and do things.”
Tommy Saxon stepped on the gas,
and the black touring car shot away
from the bridge railing, just missing
the motorcycle by inches.
Officer Wise, head bumping on the
floor, hadn’t a chance to move. Kep-
ler had his feet on the patrolman’s
back; and Wise could’ see the open
end of the automatic, languidly
dangling in the killer’s hand. Every
time he squirmed, Kepler kicked him
in the side or stepped on his head,
grinding Wise’s face harder into the
floorboard. It looked like the end for
Wise, and the lawman knew it. But
there was no sense in trying to at-
tempt a final desperate struggle from
his position. He would be riddled
with bullets the instant he made one
challenging move. At this point Wise
had perhaps one chance in a hundred
to survive a gangland killing.
FFICER WISE could not for a
moment guess what _ fantastic
fluke of fate had intervened in his
behalf, even as Kepler had thrust
him down in the car.
For at 2:30 p.m., just as the heavy
touring car had roared away from
the bridge, the telephone rang in Po-
lice Headquarters. Desk Sergeant
Ed Bour, sitting before the phone,
was startled because it was a long,
peremptory ringing that seemed to
herald startling news and not at all
like the customary automatic ring
that is spaced out evenly.
Grabbing the phone, the desk ser-
geant was shocked by the words:
“This is Jack Campbell. I’m a tele-
phone linesman. Right now I’m on
top of a pole near East Creek Bridge.
I just saw a motorcycle cop dragged
into a black touring car and kidnaped.
and I'll keep you posted as long as
I can keep the car in sight. I’m
mediately -+he ordered all available
police cars to the area, sending others .
as fast as they could be contacted.
“They're heading into Harrisburg
Road,” Campbell roared from his high
post. “They'll be out of my sight soon.”
The chief ordered a circular move-
ment of the squad cars in order to
head off the fleeing kidnap killers.
Some of the cars were sent on a five-
mile circle to intercept the Harrisburg
Road. Others followed directly. Still
others were sent on a reverse circle
to cover any side roads the kidnapers
might swerve down. The only pos-
sible chance the killers had of getting
away was that they might outdistance
the pursuing police on the straight-
away.
Foot patrolmen, under orders from
headquarters, stopped motorists on
the streets and commandeered their
ears and their services as dtivers.
One of these motorists was Ralph
Hoffee, a Canton contractor. Officer
Jessq@ Vogely stopped Hoffee’s_ car
on the corner of Main and Sixth
Streets. “Drive fast out Harrisburg
Road,” he ordered. “Bandits have
snatched a cop.”
Clambering into the rear of the car,
Vogely lowered the windows, pulled
out his Bo and then held onto the
seat as Hoffee, taking his orders liter-
ally, held the accelerator to the floor-
board. Soon they were pacing down
the Harrisburg Road and had sighted
other police in commandeered cars
and police motorcycle officers ahead
of them.
Meanwhile Guy Hiner, a_ Canton
manufacturer and crack rifle shot,
together with Bob Bostain, a friend
from Texas, had been returning from
a hunting expedition when they ran
into the pursuing police. Being told
by some road workers what the ex-
citement was about, Hiner wheeled
his car and joined the chase. However,
a roadscraper loomed up in front of
Hiner’s speeding automobile, and he
was forced. to ditch the car in order
to avoid smashing into it.
Hiner and Bostain got out of the
car and decided to continue the chase
on foot. Hiner gave Bostain a shot-
‘gun, took a 30-30 rifle and two auto-
matics—and the two men_ parted.
Hiner headed for the nearby railroad
tracks and Bostain down the road.
Bostain had only gone a short ways
when Vogely and Hoffee came roar-
ing by and noticed he was armed.
Slithering to a stop on the officer’s
orders, Hoffee picked up the Texan
and again sped down the road. But
at the intersection near the famous
old Werstler Church the men saw
unmistakable signs that a speeding
car had skidded into the side road.
Vogely ordered Hoffee to turn in—
and not more than half a mile down
the road they saw, parked to one side,
a black Buic® touring car.
BR the bandits sped off, completely
unaware that the kidnaping of the
officer had been seen and that their
progress was being watched and re-
ported by Jack Campbeil, the killers
started to argue among themselves.
“No use to cart this dumb cop any
nose ltl ae cela ae
farther than we got to,” Kepler said. =
“Let’s bump him off.
aise it’s too open here,” ‘Saxon
said.
“Tommy’s right. This job needs a.
little privacy,” Oklahoma Slim put in.
Jiggs Wise saw his end near. He
couldn’t think of an out. What chance ©
did one unarmed man have against
the four desperadoes who had taken
his gun as they threw him to the
floorboard?
“Well, anything Dutch wants is 5
okay by me,” the Cleveland Cry Baby
rasped from the back seat.
As he spoke, Werstler Church
loomed ahead, and a dark dirt road
cut off sharply to the left beside it. ~
Nodding his head toward the road,
Blondie Kepler nudged Tommy Sax-
on, who slowed the heavy car on two
wheels and went skidding off the —
pavement and down the byway. As ©
the touring car screeched to a stop, ~
Kepler ordered the rest out. Soon —
the gang was standing in the road |
with Officer Wise still lying on the
floorboard.
“C’mon, you!” Slim shouted. “Get
th’ hell out of that car!” :
Wise wriggled backward and
ith his feet.
land.
“Get goin’,” Kepler ordered, prod- ~
ding the lawman with his automatic 4
and pointing with his other hand to-
ward the woods that started at the
roadside. P
They marched the motorcycle offi- =
cer into the woods, far enough so that ~
they were all well out of sight of any ©
possible passersby. :
- “Stop!” Blondie commanded.
Wise stopped, as there was nothing |
else to do.
*“Tie him,” Kepler ordered.
One of the bandits grabbed Wise’s
hands, pulled them -together behind -
a sapling, roped them with cord from
the car, then brutally stuffed a hand- _
kerchief into the lawman’s mouth.
Perspiration dripped down the offi-
cer’s face as he watched his tor-
mentors, who stood and looked at him
grinning, pleased by their handi- —
work. :
“Five bucks says I can clip off his
ears,” Slim said to Kepler, and pulled bes
a jerk!” Saxon rasped * SS
up his gun.
“Don’t be ;
as he knocked down Slim’s arm.
“Kither give it to him or don’t. We
ain’t got time to kid around.”
“Aw, give me a chance to show
what I can do with a rod,” Slim
said to Kepler. ye.
As they argued, Jiggs Wise tensed
and strained against his bonds. But
he was tightly and expertly tied.
They gave not at all—and death
stared the lawman in the face as
Blondie himself raised the automatic
and said: “I'll settle the argument
by—”
The sudden wail of a police car
from the nearby highway cut into
his sentence. Jiggs opened his eyes,
and for a moment his heart gave 2
high leap of hope. .
“Tt’s the cops!” Oklahoma Slim
shouted—and there was a wild scurry
for the car. And again, even as he *
had done in the bank, Blondie Kepler .
hesitated an instant, then fired one @ a
shot at the officer as he turned with ==
the others and made a rush for the:
car. Slumping over against his tied
not been hit, that it was farther down
the highway. But as he again gave up
hope, the sound of a roaring auto-
mobile engine came down the road.
Then from the roed heside the
" woods Jiggs hear? the des:erate
whine of the starter in the big tour-
ing car. But the engine didn’t take
hold. Again Jiggs heard the starter
go and then he heard Slim shout:
“We gotta run for it. She won’t go—
an’ we can’t fool around!” -
Crossing the road in a hurry the
killers crouched behind a low stone
fence and watched as Hoffee’s car
stopped beside the stalled Buick.
Officer Vogely opened the rear door
and was preparing to get out when
the bandits opened fire from not
more than 50 feet away. _Hoffee
slumped over the wheel. He was
shot through the head, and didn’t .
even twitch as the bullets ploughed
into him. .
Bostain and Vogely dropped to the
floor of the car and escaped the first
murderous fire. Backing out the door
on the far side, Bostain at the front
of the car and Vogely at the rear,
both men returned the outlaws’ fire.
Bostain’s shotgun raked the stone
wall, and the bandits decided to bolt
across the a
Followed by Bostain, who was re-
loading his shotgun, and Officer
Vogely who fired as he ran, the four
killers scurried across the pasture.
1, greabedinrng: Jiggs Wise tore at
-his bonds. He finally managed to
spit the gag from his mouth and
started to shout. But his cries were
drowned out in the exchange of fire
between the bandits fleeing across
the field and the pursuing Vogely and
Bostain.
As the fire grew somewhat fainter,
’ Jiggs realized that the fleeing bandits
were losing no time in getting away
from the road. He did not know,
of course, that one of them suddenly
pitched forward and that his com-
panions raced on, not stopping to aid
the fallen man.
About a quarter of a mile across
the field. the bandits headed for a
barn where, apparently, they decided
to make their last stand: But this
was a ruse, evidently meant to stop
the pursuers. For they went through
the out a back door and on to-
ward the railroad tracks which Guy
Hiner had left only a short while
before.
_But the pursuers, now joined by
city police, Sheriff Charles Van Kirk,
Deputy Sheriff George Thorn, Detec-
tive Chief Swope, and several Na-
tional Guardsmen, all of whom had
heard the firing, were not to be put
off the trail. As they dashed out the
rear door and headed for a ravine,
the large posse opened fire. But bullet
after bullet missed the killers, who
seemed to bear charmed lives. Sprint-
ing toward three large elm trees at
the side of the ravine, the bandits
decided to fight it out in that cover.
Throwing themselves down on the
ground, they opened careful fire at
the officers, who were forced to drop
to the ground themselves and return
the fire.
George Hiner, attracted by the
sound of the battle, joined the law-
men. Taking cover behind another
LOVE-HUNGRY WIFE ~
large elm _tree, he raised his :
Mannlicher rifle, aimed carefully end
a bandit rolled over. Again, he ra:sed
the rifle, waited until one of the
killers attempted to fire from behind a
tree, squeezed the trigger. Another
bandit lurched out into the open,
clasped his stomach and dropped to the
ground. ~ “
As the second bandit jerked in his
death agony, Officers Clarence Weid-
man and Harry Hamlin let go with
bursts from their shotguns. The third
surviving bandit joined his compan-
ions on the ground.
The fight was over. There was a
dead man behind one tree. Two others
were badly wounded and with no
fight left’ in them were lying on the
ground, and the fourth lay in the field
where Bostain and Vogely had
brought him down.
Slim (Oklahoma) — was the
dead man. Eddie (Cleveland Cry
Baby) Stephenson died that night in
the hospital from loss of blood. But
it took two weeks for tough Tommy
Saxon to succumb in Memorial Hos-
me where he gave a last smoke-
ed gasp with a cigarette dangling
from his lips. And as for Blondie
Kepler, leader and brains of the
gang, he outlived Saxon by two tor-
tured days, finally dying at midnight
on June 7, 1925.
The killing of Harold Moss had
finally been avenged—and the death
of Contractor Ralph Hoffee, who as
a good citizen had lost his life while
assisting police, had not after all been
in vain.
As for Motorcycle Officer John Wise,
he survived to become chief of police
of Canton, Ohio, and a scourge to
hoodlums throughout his section of the
country.
-
Continued from page 25
. has been having a pretty rough time
of it—in finding a job, I mean.”
Conner’s eyes narrowed. “Look,
Sheriff—I didn’t ask you what you’re
doing here, but I’d like to know what
you're getting at with all these ques-
tions about Frank. If you want to
know about the boy, why don’t you
ask Lou Thames?” :
The sheriff drew back in surprise.
Was it possible that Conner did not
even know Thames had been killed?
It seemed unlikely that he had slept
through a shotgun blast and Mrs.
Thames’ frantic screams—screams
which had aroused neighbors several
hundred feet farther away from the
Thames cottage.
“Lou Thames,” the sheriff said, “is
Conner looked suddenly ill as the
sheriff continued: “Yes, I thought
you'd know. Practically everybody
else around here heard Mrs. Thames
screaming.”
Conner wet his lips. “I didn’t hear
anything. I’m a heavy sleeper. My
housekeeper can tell you that. A can-
non could go off and... .”
He trailed off as if he had run out of
words. “But,” he added at last,” you’re
wrong if you think Frank had any-
thing to do with it. He’s crazy about
t
arog guess Pearl told you all about
at.”
“Yes,” Lowe said evenly, “she did.
Anyway, if Pratz was in Youngstown
all night that leaves him out of it.”
He slipped his tablet into a pocket
and leaned forward. “Have you known
the Thames family long, Conner?”
“I’m just a neighbor,” Conner said.
“A friend of Thames?”
— of—but mostly just a neigh-
r.” .
“And just what does that mean?”
“I might as well get thigout of my
system,” Conner said resignedly.
“You'll hear rumors—I’m sure of that.
People around here think I’m sort of
a lady’s man—and they talk a lot. I
just want to tell you there isn’t any-
thing in it but a lot of gossip.”
“Anything in what?”
Conner smiled mirthlessly. “You'll
find out soon enough. They seem to
think Pearl and I were having a love
affair right under Lou’s nose. But
it’s not true, Sheriff.”
“Then how did it get started?”
“I don't know. I just know it isn’t
true.”
Lowe was not satisfied with the an-
swer. He started to pursue his ques-
tioning along the same line, then
checked himself. “Did Thames him-
self know about this—rumor?” he
asked finally. —
“I guess he did,” Conner replied.
“At least he hasn’t been very
friendly.”
“Then,” the sheriff went on, “why
did he send Pratz to you? He was
very fond of the boy, wasn’t he?”
“That’s why—because he was crazy
about the kid and he heard I could
find him a job.”
Lowe got slowly to his feet. Conner
arose and followed the sheriff to the
door. “If I can be of any further
help,” the blond man said cordially,
“don’t hesitate to call on me.”
Lowe hesitated at the door. “You
can help me now, Conner,” he said
slowly, “if you'll answer one ques-
tion. Were you ever intimate with
Pearl Thames?”
Conner cleared his throat. “Why—
‘ wouldn’t say that. No, I wouldn’t say
was. =
Pete Conner, the sheriff concluded,
could stand some more investigating.
HE PROBABLE reason why Con-
ner had chosen to speak about
the “rumors” involving him ame
apparent almost instantly as Sheriff
Lowe started interrogating Windsor
Heights citizens early Thursday morn-
ing.
The very first person questioned, a
housewife who termed herself “a
friend of Pearl Thames,” immediately
an expert was called in to determine
his sanity.
Dr. Edward E. Mayer, distinguished
psychiatrist, member of the faculty of
the University of Pittsburgh, examined
Powers in the county jail and declared
him “legally sane.” During the long
hours of talk with him, Powers inform-
ed the doctor that he had two favorite
pastimes. He liked to study scientific
crime and sex phychology. -
HERIFF GRIMM in the meantime
called a halt to the digging at Quiet
Dell. Apparently the final secret had
been unearthed.
But thrill seekers from far and near
and at all times of the day and night
swooped down on Quiet Dell hoping to
witness the next gruesome find. Many
salved their disappointment by remov-
ing bits of wood from the garage, and
even clods of earth from the drainage
ditch.
Lessees of the farm built a high wood
fence around the area, and charged a
small fee to peep through a hole at
“Bluebeard’s Den of Death.”
On September 4th, Dr. L. C. Goff,
the coroner, convened his jury. Chief
Duckworth presented the police theory
that Dorothy Pressler Lemke, in view
of the medical evidence as to the de-
composed condition of her body, had
been first of the-victims strangled, prob-
ably during the night of July 31st. Mrs.
Asta B. Eicher and her children, Greta,
_ Harry, and Annabel, followed in suc-
cession, their heads bashed in with a
hammer. All had been brought to
Clarksburg, then imprisoned together
in the basement cells of the Quiet Dell
charnel house. The jury returned five
separate verdicts against Harry F.
Powers.
Continuing his probe into Powers’
matrimonial adventures, Chief Duck-
worth traced the spider web he wove
in almost every state. Lonesome women
from one end of the country to the oth-
er, the experienced, the inexperienced,
all fell for the lure of Powers’ bated
trap. The fortunate among them were
those who had little or no property.
Powers had too many on the hook to
waste time with them.
- As news of his far-flung murderous
enterprise became public the anger that
swelled on discovery of the Eicher fam-
ily’s fate, subsided, then simmered
again when Mrs. Lemke was taken from
_ her untimely grave, broke into full fury
on September 19th. For two days mobs
gathered at the Harrison County jail.
Murmured threats rose to
cries.
“Bring out the murderer! String him
up!” echoed into the very jail corridors.
But officials were determined that
Powers, cringing in his cell, meet his
fate only by just and legal means. Po-
lice and guards armed with tear-gas
guns, and a fire hose ready to be turned
on, faced the seething masses. Storm-
ing forward, the mob progressed to the
entrance because someone had cut the
fire hose. Then just on the point of
breaking through, clouds of tear gas
spiraled into the furious crowd. The
mob choked, halted, drew back, and
finally dispersed.
On September 20th a bigger and an-
grier mob surged toward the jail in a
second try. Just as it was getting under
way a four-car caravan headed by Sher-
iff Grimm, Chief Duckworth, and State
Police Captain H. M. Brown smuggled
Powers out through the rear gates, and
. roared on to West Virginia State peni-
tentiary at Moundsville.
‘ Powers remained there in the custody
of Warden A. C. Scroggins until shortly
before his trial. Charged by the grand
jury in five separate indictments with
first degree murder, he pleaded “Not
Guilty” on November 14th. With the
county courthouse being repaired, and
in any event too small to hold the large
crowds assembling in Clarksburg, the
trial opened on December 7th at Moore’s
Opera House.
Jammed to capacity, the town theater
GLAMOUR DOLL’S KIMONO
(Continued from page 39)
gone to the University of Oklahoma
where she was a member of the dra-
matic society and an editor for the
campus newspaper. At the Norman,
Oklahoma, college she had met Roger
Cunningham. Her father described his
daughter as being restless and impa-
tient, with a strong will of her own.
But he also said that Eudora would
never do anything to hurt or worry
anyone and had always shown great re-
spect for her parents. His daughter was
a socialite, her father went on, and had
come out in her junior year. Later she
had married Roger. The two seemed
very happy together. Cunningham had
gone into business and had been doing
“sa
lynching
could hold only some 1,200 persons.
Hundreds more milled about the doors
and on the streets waiting for a chance
to enter. Peanut and popcorn vendors
did a rush business. Hawkers paraded
the streets shouting for sale the “Love
Secrets of West Virginia’s Bluebeard,”
in pamphlet form at a nominal charge.
Judge John C. Southern, presiding,
sat on a dais erected on the stage. To
one side the jury filled an improvised
box. On the other, State’s Attorney for
Harrison County William E. Morris,
and defense counsel, J. Ed Law, sat at
separate wooden tables. Behind them
still hung the street-scene theater back-
drop. But the trial of Harry F. Powers
was no mock drama about to be opened.
Electing to try Powers on the indict-
ment charging him with the murder of
Dorothy Pressler Lemke, State’s At-
torney Morris began the parade of wit-
nesses against him. As their stories un-
folded under his adroit questioning,
Powers remained unmoved. He showed
no emotion even when Chief Duckworth
held the heap of blood-stained garments
taken from the Quiet Dell garage.
Finally, all eyes centered on him,
Harry F. Powers calmly walked to the
stand to testify in his own defense.
Tenaciously he clung to the statement
that “two other fellows did it.” Again
he named them. A subpoena issued for
them to appear at Moore’s Opera House
could never be served for obvious rea-
sons. They just didn’t exist. With that
myth still on his lips, Powers left the
stand. ,
On December 10th, the jury brought
in its verdict of “guilty,” without recom-
mendation for mercy.
Harry F. Powers, the man of many
aliases, the traveling salesman who sold
himself to the lonely, repaying faith and
trust with murder, was sentenced to
death by hanging.
He paid the supreme penalty for his.
wholesale murder rampage on the gal-
lows at Moundsville State Penitentiary
March 18, 1932. *
very well, but had given it up to take
a very important post with the F.H.A.
Eudora’s father had one further bit
of information to disclose; the missing
wife had been carrying $500 when she
left Oklahoma City. The graying, dis-
tinguished parent insisted that the in-
vestigators contact San Francisco po-
lice authorities at the earliest possible
time.
Driving back to headquarters, County
Attorney Morris mulled over the case.
From what he had learned of Eudora
Cunningham she was an_ impulsive,
headstrong young woman. But she was
not the type, it seemed, to go off on a
trip and send no word of her where-
abouts to her loved ones. Nor did it
seem that there was anything in the
marital background of the young couple
which could lead him to suspect that the
wife had gone off with someone else.
The telegram was a. puzzling piece in
the jig-saw. Who sent it? Did Eudora?
It was unlikely. Why did it come from
the northern California city and not
from Los Angeles? Where was Mrs.
Cunningham now?
The county attorney assigned Sheriff
George Goff to the case, who was to
take charge of the investigation as-
sisted by Detective Claude Tyler. Mor-
ris briefed the men on what he had
pieced together, and suggested that they
begin their investigation with a check
of the local Western Union office and -
try to trace that strange telegram.
“Don’t miss any angle,” Morris told |
his men. “I want a thorough investiga-
tion made of the missing girl and of
i ih il ch Bi
Cunningham and anyone who knows Be
them. You might also make a check of. ued
the literary agents out west.”
Some days later, Detective Tyler re-" is
POLICE FILES
Tinacrat,
ees \ Nesp Trev to ne Frever-—
(in ihe pasture Jot belonging to the
Woinam Gazer heirs, near the bridge
over Tecker's creek as you approach
Mackey ss raul from Morgantown -ter-
ineriy the Rogers grist mul.) stands an -
iid jocast tree that has a listory. Sev-
raity pears ago the man Cleniens. of
tear (lacksburg. was hung upon that
tree AE bis Bers been pointed cut t
the younger generatiaa by cid people
who panember the ewent. Mois now
viet te Ee cut dewn and destroyea-u
der the march of modern enterprise —.
he Blok Botte Ralread wilh take vs
piace
so -the wary. tt Tue Poen over talfa
SCIEN pee any one wee aung in Mo-
nengaia “The negro Joshua was ibe
Clagio person publicly strangied on the
galwe He expiated for another's
ornine. faa ead. open the seaitold near
the proosent reeudence of Michael FB.
Chadant, oust bevond ‘he University
RCOUTs Peary OU years age,
5} 2/1¥87
ok &arToua! (iv. os7_
;0—i“‘(<‘éWMALNE: AOE HCY Advice —s|
Against the advice of his attorney,
Willmot took the stand for the state
&t Morrison's THal ana accused him
directly of firing the fatal shot. Will-
met, who said he was employed as
‘Norrison's chauffeur, testified the lat-
| ter forced him to enter the Bowen car
om the. death trip. .Willmot said he
sat beside Bowen, who was driving,
while Mortison entered the rear seat
| Of the sedan. A pistol cracked, Will-
mot told the fury, and Bowen slumped
over the wheel, shot through the back
of the head. As he leaned over to
stop the car, Willmot said, he glanced
back and saw a pistol in Morrison's
hand.
Morrison accused Willmot indirectly
Ol responsibility for the slaying. When
their car, broke down, Morrison testi-
fied Willmot said he was going to get
another car and attempted to stop one.
The driver drove on, Morrison said,
| but the second stopped and Willmot
entered !¢ alone. Morrison testified
| Willmot soug
\ enter the
to force him also to
ut be refused and re-
| mained with Mre, Wilmot. A few
minutes later, he said, Willmot re-
, turned driving the car with Bowen
‘mumped over in the seat. Willmot
, Wes very excited and did: rot explain
| sat had happened, Morrison — said,
ordered -them to transfer their
¢~4- to the Bowen car, which they
Atal. Morrison denied that Wilimot
, wae employed by Kim as chauffeur ai-
' though he safd the latter did the driv-
ime
Supports orts Husband's Story
Supporting her basband's story, Mra
Willmot testified both Morrison and
Willmot entered the Bowen car and
that they returned seven . minutes
later with Bowen's Sody in tt. “Sée
what I have done for you, kid,” the
girl quoted Morrison ee saying when
‘he stepped rfom the Bowen car. She
‘ale supported Wilmot m his clstm
pthat Morrisotr had threatened him sev-
eral times on the trip which had start-
‘ed im Mew Jersey, April 27, following
_her marriage “On Apréi.22.
’ Alt members of the trip oceupted
| contrasting roles as witnesses at the
| two trials.- Wilmot and Morrison each
| testified for the state at the other's
| trial and@~for-the defense at their
| own, Mra. Wijllmet was a state wit-
} ness ot the Morrison trial and testi-
| fied for her husband at his trial.
| The trials attracted much atten-
| tion because of the unusual features
| Of the case. At the opening tay of
|; the Morrison trial a delegation came
down from Lens creek mountain that
| filled the @ourt. room to overflowing.
| Unable to wiiness the proceedings
| while seated the cfowd stood upon
5; Denches im the Court rdem but on
|| succeeding days. Judge Henry K, Black,
| presiding at the trials, required the
| audience to be seated.
MARTIN, William I.
"Here at Beckley (Ww. Va.) a public hanging was staged on
present day Valley Drive on Friday, Oct. 3, 1890, when
Sheriff wW. T. 'Uncle Billy' Shumate cut the rope that
dropped the death trap from under William I. Martin, con-
victed wife murderer. Sheriff Shumate offered $500 and
his team of horses if anyone would come on the scaffold
and assume his responsibility in hanging Martin. Even
from among the morbid crowd of curious people there were
none to accept Uncle Billy's offer. Even in that far off
day almost 75 years ago there was local sentiment against
capital punishment as evidenced from a crv from rowd
in resporise to Sheriff Shumate's offer of 'Turn xr oose
Turn him loose,.'! Py ae an az
column (Cf
L tA /Mt
a
GNIVERSITY QF AU
’
W. Va © 43 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
the armed forces ofgghe United States was
STATE v. McCAULEY. properly sustained. ;
No. 9924.
Supreme Court of Apis of West Virginia.
é July 1, 1947.
7. Criminal law C867
In murder prosecution, a misstatement
in one instance by counsel for the prosecu-
tion that defendant had been dishonorably
1. Hominid, Sot? discharged’ from United States Navy was
In murder prosecution defended on not «round for a mistrial where the mis-
ground of insanity, testimony that at ts statement was inadvertently made, was im-
age of nine years defendant had attempted mediately repudiated and followed by an
to defend his sister when she was attacked 5
by a larger boy but was overpowered,
which was offered to show that defendant 8. Criminal law C=706
had “frustrated ideas”, was properly re- In murder prosecution the inadvertent
jected as irrelevant where the incident was
isolated, taking: place during defendant's cution that defendant had been dishonor:
childhood, and the incident was not con- ably discharged from United States Navy
nected with defendant’s condition at the whereas defendant had been honorably dis-
time of the killing. charged was not an attack upon the de-
fendant’s character within meaning of the
2. Criminal law C>1153(1) rule that defendant’s character cannot be
Homicide C>179 attacked until.it is placed in issue by the
Atrial court is vested with considerable gefendant.
discretion as to the admissibility of testi-
mony on the issue of sanity in a homicide
trial, and, in the absence of clear abuse,
apology.
9. Homicide C179
In murder prosecution defended on
!
: ; . ; - round of insanity, attorney's testimony,
4 n will not be interfered with &
a ae! introduced by prosecution to show that de-
fendant had sufficient intelligence to know
3. Criminal law C=1170(1) the consequences of his act in killing de-
The rejection of irrelevant testimony ceased, that defendant had attempted .
offered by a defendant in a criminal trial employ the attorney as defendant's eis
is not ground for setting aside a verdict of sel, and that defendant had written “n
guilty. letters to the attorney, and a colloquy D¢
tween the prosecuting attorney and one of
AL Crt ten: Gye? counsel of defendent. were not improp¢!
In murder prosecution defended on
ground of insanity, prosecution’s question 10. Criminal law €=1128(2) .
to a psychiatrist testifying for defendant Matter dehors the record would i :
whether the psychiatrist had suggested that considered by Supreme Court on review
authorities be requested to examine defend- of murder conviction.
- on review.
ant was not prejudicial as tending to in- L. Grninal law SORIE@)
filing tre gary peatist, Goiener If a binding instruction is given in 3
5. Criminal law C>1169(1) murder prosecution, the factual pen
The admission in a trial for murder of stated thercin must be complete and, ¥
immaterial testimony which clearly results given at the request of the state, 4 gore
oe
i | lite
in no prejudice to defendants is not re- defense, supported by evidence and rel
versible error. on by defendant, must not be ignored.
12. Criminal law €=815(5)
Under instruction that defendant ¥3*
guilty of murder in first degree if jury be
6. Homiclde €179
In murder prosecution defended on
ground of insanity, objection to questions
propounded by defense counsel to a psychi-
atrist testifying for defendant relative to
statement in question by attorney for prose- °
lieved that defendant “wilfully, deliberate :
ly, maliciously and premeditatedly” she
ived tf
the rejection of defendant as a member of decedent, the quoted words negat!y ed
STATE v. McCAULEY W. Va. 455
Cite as 43 S.E.2d 454
idea of mental incapacity on part of de-
fendant at time of the alleged offense, and
instruction was not objectionable as being
a binding instruction ignoring the defense
of insanity.
13. Homicide €=308(1)
In murder prosecution, instruction
which substantially followed the definition
of murder in the first degree as set forth
in statute and the decided cases and cor-
rectly informed the jury with reference
thereto was not incomplete, abstract, or
misleading. Code, 61-2-1.
14, Criminal law €=1172({)
In murder prosecution, giving of in-
struction permitting jury to infer intent,
malice, willfulness and premeditation from
the fact that the killing was done with a
deadly weapon was not reversible error as
stating an abstract proposition ignoring the
evidence where no evidence was offered in
rebuttal of the circumstances of the killing,
there was little or no provocation for the
defendant's act, and evidence of insanity
only was offered in justification.
15. Criminal law €=311
In murder prosecution, defendant was
presumed to be sane,
16. Homicide €>237
In murder prosecution, defendant’s
alleged insanity was required to be proved
by defendant to the satisfaction of the jury
by a preponderance of the evidence.
{7. Criminal law ©=829(1)
In murder prosecution, refusal of de-
fendant’s tendered instructions was not
error where other instructions given cov-
ered the tendered instructions,
18. Homliclde €=152
If defendant with a deadly weapon in
his possession without any or upon very
slight provocation gives to another a mortal
wound, the defendant is prima facie guilty
of wilfull, deliberate and premeditated
killing, and the necessity rests upon him
of showing extenuating circumstances, and
unless he proves such extenuating circum-
Stances, or the circumstances appear from
the case made by the state, he is guilty of
murder of the first degree.
s
19. Homicide €-152
The legal principle that a prima facie
case of first-degree murder is established
when the commonwealth proves a mortal
wound given with a deadly weapon in
slayer’s previous possession without any, or
on very slight, provocation, is not in con-
flict with principle that every homicide is
presumed to be second-degree murder.
Code, 61-2-1.
20. Homicide ¢>152
In murder prosecution, a presumption
arose that the killing was murder in the
first degree, where state established the
fact of the killing and that little or no
provocation therefor existed. Code, 61-2-1.
21. Arrest €=63(4)
A member of the West Virginia De-
partment of Public Safety could arrest de-
fendant where he believed upon reasonable
grounds that defendant had committed a
felony, even though the felony was not com-
mitted in his presence. Code, 15-2-11,
22. Homicide €>296
In murder prosecution, instruction stat-
ing that an illegal arrest. may be repelled
with force if the person who is to be ar-
rested believes himself to be in imminent
danger of great bodily harm and injury
from the arresting officer and that he may
kill the officer if he has reasonable grounds
to believe it necessary to save his own life
was properly rejected where defendant had
been arrested some time before the killing
and approximately 15 miles from the place
of the killing.
23. Homicide €>240
In prosecution for murder of arresting
officer, evidence did not establish that de-
fendant was in danger of losing his life or
of suffering great bodily harm at hands
of officer in whose custody defendant was
at time of killing, so as to authorize the
killing when attempting to escape from the
allegedly illegal custody.
24. Arrest €63(4)
Criminal law €=710
In murder prosecution for the killing of
officer by defendant when defendant at-
tempted to escape from the decedent’s al-
legedly illegal custody after being arrested
SCHOOL GCF LAY
por
"gT6T-O€-T (TezewrW) dS erwrezta 4se4 peSuey Soqtum Syre SxeTAVOON
x
wet)
oo
cy).
Bae
CRIVERSITY OF
456 W. Va.
for theft of a truck, the arrest of defend-
ant was justified under evidence that dece-
dent was informed of the theft of the truck,
that decedent found truck where defendant
was staying, that the decedent asked de-
fendant for the keys, that defendant killed
decedent, that later the license which had
been on the truck was found in defend-
ant’s possession, and that some person had
attempted to destroy the means of identify-
ing the truck and defendant was properly
denied permission to argue to jury that the
arrest was illegal.
25. Homiclde €=253(1)
Evidence sustained conviction of mur-
der in the first degree.
26. Criminal law €>1165(1)
Murder conviction would not be re-
versed on review by Supreme Court of
Appeals because of error committed by
trial court where the error was not preju-
dicial to defendant.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. The rejection of irrelevant testi-
mony offered by a defendant in a criminal
trial is not ground for setting aside a ver-
dict of guilty.
2. The admission in a trial for mur-
der of immaterial testimony, which clearly
results in no prejudice to defendant, is not
reversible error.
3. Inadvertent use of a word, in one |
instance, by counsel propounding a ques-
tion, which word tends to reficct. on the
character of a defendant in a criminal
case, and which word is immediately dis-
avowed and repudiated by said counsel, and
an unobjectionable word substituted there-
for, is not ground for a mistrial.
4. Statements of counsel not made a
part of the record in a murder trial will not
be considered by this Court on review.
5. The use of the words “wilfully,
deliberately, maliciously and premeditated-
ly” in an instruction defining murder of the
first degree, given at the request of the
State, negatives the idea of mental incapa-
city on the part of defendant at the time
of the alleged offense.
6. In a‘trial on an indictment for
murder, the burden of proving defendant's
43 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
insanity rests upon him, and must be estab-
lished to the satisfaction of the jury by 2
preponderance of the evidence; and an
instruction incorporating that principle is
not erroneous.
7. “A man is presumed to intend that
which he does, or which is the immediate
or necessary consequence of his act; and
if the prisoner with a deadly weapon in his
possession without any or upon very slight
provocation gives to another a mortal
wound, the prisoner is prima facie guilty
of willful, deliberate and premeditated kill-
ing, and the necessity rests upon him of
showing extenuating circumstances, and
unless he proves such extenuating circum-
stances, or the circumstances appear from
the case made by the State, he is guilty of
murder in the first degree.” Pt. 11, Syl,
State v. Cain, 20 W.Va. 679.
8. A member of the Department of
Public Safety of the State of West Virginia
may, without a warrant, arrest any person
who he believes, upon reasonable grounds,
has committed a felony.
9. “‘A verdict of guilty in a criminal
case will not be reversed here because of
error committed by the trial court, unless
that error is prejudicial to the accused.’
State v. Rush, 108 W.Va. 254, 150 S.E. 740."
Pt. 3, Sy!., State v. Corey, 114 W.Va. 118,
171 S.E. 14.
—— ed
Error to Circuit Court, Mineral County.
Mark Roy McCauley was convicted of
murder in the first degree, and he brings
error.
Judgment affirmed.
Edward J. Ryan, of Cumberland, Md.,
and Shores & Shores, of Keyser, for piain-
tiff in error. ,
Ira J. Partlow, Atty. Gen., and J. Chand-
ler Curd, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant
in error.
LOVINS, Judge.
Mark Roy McCauley was indicted, tried
and convicted in the Circuit Court of Min-
eral County for the murder of Joseph
Horne, a sergeant in the Department of
Public Safety of the State of West Virgin-
STATE v. McCAULEY W.Va. 457
Cite as 43 S.E.2d 454
ia. To a judgment sentencing him to be
executed, he prosecutes this writ of error.
The theft of a motor truck, owned by
Dodd & Archer and worth approximately
sixty-five hundred dollars, was reported to
deceased for his official action. On Sep-
tember 9, 1946, having been informed that
defendant had taken the truck to the vicin-
ity of Emoryville, Sergeant Horne, ac-
companied by the Sheriff of Tucker Coun-
ty and the sheriff's son, went to that town,
where they found the truck parked near
the home of Jim Harding, with the name
of the owners removed by scraping and
burning. The engine serial number and
trade-mark of the vehicle were also re-
moved and an attempt had been made to
repaint the truck body.
The officers stopped at the home of Hard-
ing, and were there informed that defendant
had gone in Harding’s automobile to Key-
ser, West Virginia, and that his return was
expected within a short time. Deceased,
leaving the sheriff and his son at the Hard-
ing home, proceeded to a point near Key-
ser, where he encountered defendant, and
according to defendant’s statement, herein-
after mentioned, arrested him, but did not
search defendant’s person. Defendant and
the deceased returned to the Harding home
and, on their arrival there, proceeded to
the rear of the house. About the time they
entered the kitchen of the Harding home,
Horne requested defendant to give him the
keys to the motor truck, whereupon an.
altercation ensued, during which defendant
shot the officer twice, and also shot the
sheriff. Defendant then went upstairs in
the Harding home, secured a shotgun, fired
upon and wounded the son of the sheriff.
The deaths of ‘Horne and the sheriff oc-
curred shortly after the shooting.
Defendant fled to the woods, and about
nine-thirty p. m., on September 10, 1946, he
was apprehended near the Harding home
by two members of a posse. At the time
he was apprehended, he was carrying a
pistol, a shotgun, both of which he was
forced to discard, and a bundle in which
were various articles for personal use, to-
gether with a license plate which had been
attached to the motor truck. Defendant
was taken to Clarksburg by the officers
having his custody, where he made a state-
43 S.E.2d—29%%
ment in which he admitted the killing of
the two officers and the wounding of the
sheriff’s son. Defendant's statement is to
the effect that when Horne asked him for
the keys to the motor truck, defendant asked
the sheriff if he had a warrant for his
arrest. The sheriff answered by stating
that no warrant was necessary. Defendant
further stated that he felt the officers were
infringing upon his rights; that he was
angry; and that they did not know the
whole truth about the theft of. the truck.
At this time, according to the statement,
Horne started to search defendant’s pockets
for the keys, and, in doing so, ascertained
that defendant was carrying a revolver.
Whereupon defendant drew the pistol and
shot Horne twice. The sheriff attempted
to use his revolver, but was shot by defend-
ant before he could do so.
The testimony of the only eyewitness to
the shooting is to the effect that as defend-
ant and deceased came in the door of the
kitchen, Horne grabbed defendant by the
arm, and asked him if he had the keys to
the truck in his pocket. A struggle ensued,
during which defendant reached for his
gun. At this point the witness fled from
the room and, as she ran outside the door,
she heard the shots.
At the trial the State proved by medical
testimony that Horne’s death was caused
by the gunshot wounds inflicted on him.
The circumstances under which defend-
ant was apprehended were shown and there
was testimony to the effect that one of the
bullets found in the body of deceased had
been fired from the revolver discarded by
defendant at the time of his apprehension.
It was further testified that prior to the
shooting, defendant had threatened to kill
Horne.
Although the killing was admitted, de-
fendant entered a plea of not guilty and
only offered, in support of his plea, evidence
to the effect that he was insane at the time
of the killing. Defendant’s father, brother,
former wife, aunts and sisters testified that
defendant was heedless of the rights of
others; that he possessed an overbearing
disposition; and that, in many instances,
he would act without regard as to whether
his action was right or wrong. One sister
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attempted to testify concerning an incident
involving an attack made on her by a larger
-boy, when defendant was a child of nine
years; and that defendant had attempted
to defend her but could not because he was
overpowered by the larger boy. The trial
court refused to admit such testimony.
* Two psychiatrists were introduced in be-
half of defendant, one of whom stated that
from his examination of defendant and
from hearing the testimony adduced in
opén court, he was of the opinion that de-
fendant did not know the difference be-
tween right and wrong. The other pyschia-
trist was of opinion that he knew the dif-
ference between right and wrong, his con-
ception in that respect being equivalent to
that of a child eleven or twelve years old,
but that he was heedless of the conse-
quences of carrying out any undertaking
he wished to accomplish.
In rebuttal the State offered the testi-
mony of a number of lay witnesses, some of
whom had engaged in business transactions
with defendant. These witnesses testified
that they had known defendant for various
periods of time; that they had observed
his conduct; and that they had not ob-
served anything to indicate that defendant
was mentally unsound, Another pyschia-
trist, testifying in behalf of the State, stated
that, after having examined defendant for
a period of about an hour and forty-five
minutes, and after having heard the evi-
dence previously introduced by the State
and the defense, he was of opinion that de-
fendant “has sufficient intelligence and
judgment to tell the difference between
right end wrong”, even though his men-
tality and judgment are subnormal.
On the foregoing evidence the jury re-
turned a verdict of murder of the first de-
gree. and, after overruling a motion to set
the verdict aside, the trial court sentenced
defendant to be hanged.
Assigrments: of error are classified as:
(1) those relating to the action of the trial’
court in ‘admitting and rejecting evidence;
(2): alleged prejudicial conduct on the part
of. the prosecuting attorney and counsel as-
sisting in the prosecution; (3) giving, re-
fusing and modifying instructions ;'(4) re-
fusing: to permit. counsel to argue to the
43 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
jury that the attempted arrest made by de-
ceased was illegal; and (5) in refusing to
set aside the verdict as being contrary to
the law and the evidence.
Another assignment of error was predi-
cated on the refusal of the trial court to set
aside the verdict on the grounds of after-
discovered evidence. But before the case
was submitted for decision by this Court,
it was ascertained that such evidence did
not exist, and that ground was abandoned
in argument and brief.
[1-3] The Court rejected the testimony
of defendant’s sister relative to the incident
hereinbefore noted with respect to defend-
ant’s efforts to defend her when he was
about nine years of age. The alleged
theory of defendant in offering this testi-
mony was an effort to show that such inci-
dent resulted in defendant having “frus-
trated ideas.” If defendant had suffered in
his childhood an incident or some experi-
ence which had impaired or destroyed his
reason, the testimony may have been perti-
nent on the issue of sanity here presented.
But no attempt was made then, or at any
other: time during the trial, to connect the
childhood occurrence with his mental con-
dition at the time of the killing. As far as
the record discloses this was an isolated in-
cident, taking place during defendant's
childhood, and the trial court ruled that it
was irrelevant. A trial court is vested with
considerable discretion as to the admis-
sibility of testimony on the issue of sanity
in a homicide trial, and, in the absence of
clear abuse, that discretion will not be in-
terfcered with on-review. 26 Am.Jur., Hom-
icide, Section 338. It was not error to re-
ject the proffered testimony.
[4,5] Defendant argues that the court
erred in permitting counsel for the State
to interrogate one of the psychiatrists testi-
fying for defendant as. follows: “You
never suggested to Mr. Ryan, or anybody,
that they inquire of any authority of this
State to have him examined, did you?”
Defendant assumes the position that. this
question was asked for the purpose of in-
flaming the jury against him. It is diff-
cult to see how such a question would en-
gender any feeling in the minds of the jur-
ors, either for or against defendant, ‘True,
9 RAR Cae
STATE v. McCAULEY W.Va. 459
Cite as 43 S.E.2d 454
the question was irrelevant, but the answer
of the witness in the negative did not tend
to establish any fact then in issue before
the jury, and no prejudice resulted.
(6] It is contended that the trial court
committed error in sustaining an objection
to questions propounded by defense coun-
sel to one of the psychiatrists testifying for
defendant relative to the rejection of de-
fendant as a member of the armed forces
of the United States. We have examined
the questions asked and the rulings and ob-
servations of the court thereon, and readily
reach the conclusion that proffer of such
evidence was unwarranted, and that the
exceptions taken to the action of the court
thereon were baseless.
Defendant contends that he was prej-
udiced by the remarks made by counsel for
the State during the progress of the trial,
and that his motion for a mistrial should
have been sustained.
[7] Counsel assisting in the prosecution
propounded the following question: “How
would you account for the fact, if he’s been
so afflicted for the last ten years, he entered
the United States Navy and served as a
machinist mate for four years, receiving a
dishonorable discharge, without showing
any evidence of this thing?” (Italics sup-
plied.) Before the question was answered,
counsel for defendant objected and moved
for a mistrial, which the trial court over-
ruled. The attorney propounding the ques-
tion immediately apologized to the court,
stated that defendant had received an
“honorable” discharge, and asked that the
question be propounded with the words
“ywonorable discharge.” The record does
not disclose that defendant’s counsel moved
the court to instruct the jury not to consid-
er the remark. Moreover, it would be a
useless act for a court to direct a jury to
disregard a remark which is immediately
withdrawn and disavowed by counsel who
made it. We are cited to the case of State
v. Graham, 119 W.Va. 85, 191 S.E. 884.
The prosecuting attorney in the Graham
Case persisted in improper remarks to such
extent that-this Court held that the accused
was deprived of a fair and impartial trial
by such conduct. In this case no such situ-
ation is presented. The misstatement, in-
advertently made, immediately repudiated,
followed by an apology, was not a ground
for declaring a mistrial, and no prejudice
resulted from such incident.
[8] We are also cited to the case of
State v. Coleman, 96 W.Va. 544, 123 S.E.
580; State v. Sheppard, 49 W.Va. 582, 39
S.E. 676; State v. Lane, 44 W.Va. 730, 29
S.E. 1020; and State v. Donohoo, 22 W.
Va. 761, for the priticiple that defendant's
character cannot be attacked until the same
is placed in issue by him. Defendant’s
character had not been placed in issue here,
nor do we think there was any attack made
on his character by the inadvertent use
of the word “dishonorable”.
[9,10] During the course of the trial
an attorney was summoned to testify in be-
half of the State in rebuttal, it evidently
being the purpose of the State to show that
defendant had attempted to employ the
attorney as Ins counsel to defend him in
this trial, and to reason from that action
of defendant that he had sufficient intel-
ligence to know the consequences of his
act in killing deceased. We have examined
meticulously the record and find that the
attorney testified that defendant attempted
to employ him as his counsel; that de-
fendant had written two letters to the wit-
ness and, when the attorney was asked
to produce the letters, he claimed his privi-
lege as a practicing attorney. The court
sustained an objection to the introduction
of the letters. A colloquy ensucd between
the prosecuting attorney and one of counsel
for defendant, at which time counsel for
defendant moved the court to declare a
mistrial. We see nothing in the testimony
of this witness, nor in the colloquy between
counsel which was improper. Defendant in
his brief makes vague reference to matters
which do not appear in the record. We do
not consider matters dehors the record.
Paris v. Brown, 143 Va. 896, 129 S.E. 678;
Hartman v. Corpening, 116 W.Va. 31, 178
S°E 436:
The State tendered and the trial court
gave, over defendant’s objections, eleven
instructions. Defendant contends that it
was error to give these instructions on the
general grounds that, they are abstract,
misleading, ignore the defense of insanity
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460 W. Va. 43 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
interposed by defendant, and that the evi- 7, 8 and 9, tendered by the State and given,
dence showed that the killing was done in and instructions A, F and G, tendered by
defendant and given, when read together
tend to elaborate the meaning of the words
used in instruction No. 3 and fully instruct
the jury on the defense of insanity.
the heat of passion.
Instruction No. 3, given at the request of
the State, is as follows: “The Court in-
structs the jury, that if they believe from
the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt {13] Instruction No. 3 substantially fol-
that Mark Roy McCauley wilfully, delib- jows the definition of murder of the first
erately, maliciously and premeditatedly degree as set forth in Code, 61-2-1, and
shot and killed Joseph P. Horne, he 18 the decided cases thereon, and correctly in-
guilty of murder in the first degree and the formed the jury with reference thereto.
jury should so find.” This instruction 1S-]+ was not incomplete, nor was it abstract
objected to on the grounds that it ignores nq misleading. The action of the court
the defense of insanity, and that the evi- ;, giving that instruction does not consti-
dence shows the killing was done in the tute error,
heat of passion over the illegal arrest. : :
- : eh Y All of the other instructions given at
{11, 12] It is true that if a binding in- the request of the State have been care-
struction is given, the factual premises f4j1y examined, and the arguments in sup-
stated therein must be complete and, if port of defendant’s contentions have been
given at the request of the State, a good fully considered. The instructions state
defense supported by evidence and relied propositions of law, wiick Mave been ap-
on by defendant, must not be ignored. proved by this Court. Such instructions do
ce 3 Pitio . ; a ' ch
State v. Price, 83 W.Va. 71, 97 S.E. 582, 5 not ignore the defense of insanity, nor do
A.L.R. 1247; State v. Wisman, 93 W.Va. they overstress any part of the evidence.
183, 198, 116 S.E. 698. See Evans v. Kir- Although one or more of the instructions
BoM 88 W.Va. 343, 351, 106° S.E. 647. may state abstract propositions of law,
Treating instruction No. 3 as binding, be- when considered a8 & whole, we do. not
fore the jury could find defendant guilty think that the giving of any said instruc-
of first degree murder, they were required tions constitutes prejudicial error calling
to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that ‘557 reversal of this judgment.
defendant had sufficient mental capacity to,
and did, deliberate and premeditate on his (14] However, commenting on instruc-
act; will its commission; and entertain tion No. 10, given at the request of the
’ malice toward the deceased. In comment- State, it may be argued that a similar in-
ing on an instruction almost identical with struction permitting a jury to infer intent,
instruction No. 3, here considered, this malice, wilfulness and premeditation from
Court has said: “The words * * * the fact that the killing was done with a
‘wilfully, deliberately and premeditatedly’ deadly weapon, was disapproved in the cas¢
negative the idea of mental incapacity on of State v..Coleman, 96 W.Va. 544, 548,
the pa.t of the defendant at the time of the 123 S.E. 580, 582. Therein it was-stated:
alleged offense.” State v. Corey, 114 W. “* * * in the instant case circut
Va. 118, 125, 171 S.E. 114, 117. This in- stances were shown tending to rebut 4
struction, properly considered and analyz- presumption of premeditation and delibera-
ed, even though a binding instruction, does tion, essential elements of first degree mur-
not ignore the defehse of insanity. We der, from the bare facts of the stabbing of
must assume that the jury was composed of deceased with a deadly weapon. We feel
‘men endowed with an ordinary faculty for that the instruction states an abstract doc-
reasoning and an average knowledge of the trine, ignoring the evidence in the case, and
plain meaning of the words used; and that should not have been given.” See: State
they understood that, if insane, defendant v. Donahue, 79 W.Va. 260,; 263, 9 S.E
could not have willed, deliberated, or pre- 834. But in the instant case no evidence is
meditated as to the killing, nor could he offered in rebuttal of the circumstances
have entertained malice against the de- this killing. There was little or no prov
ceased. Moreover, instructions numbered cation for the defendant’s act, and evidence
STATE v. McCAULE pas
Cite as 43 S..2d 754 e hed» 461
of insanity only was offered in justifica- based on insanity is in the nat f
tion thereof. The giving of instruction affirmative defense for the : page all
No. 10 did not constitute reversible error. men are presumed sane Theeek ea
Defendant complains of the action of the presumption, the defennasats eee me
trial court in modifying and giving as be proven by him to the siitaee of
modified instruction A, reading as follows: the jury by a preponderance of the evi-
The court instructs the jury that to dence. State v. Robinson, 20 W.Va. 713
constitute murder in the first degree the 43 Am.Rep. 799; State v. Evans, 94 Ww Va.
evidence must clearly and distinctly prove, 47, 117 S.E. 885. For a full discussion of
beyond any reasonable doubt, that the pris- the rule adopted by this and other courts
oner was not only incited to the killing of Tegarding the burden of proof as it relates
the deceased by malice, and desperate to a plea of insanity, see State v. Cook, 69
wickedness of heart, but such killing must W. Va. 717, 724 et Seq;,;: 72.5.5, 1025 The
have been a wilful, deliberate, and premedi- modification of instruction A Seas oints
tated act on the part of the prisoner; in Out this distinction, and correctly Su fokais
other words, at the time of the killing the the jury with respect thereto. Since it cor-
prisoner must have distinctly understood Tectly states the law, as applicable to th
what he willed and intended to do; he evidence in the case, we are unable to ae
must have also reflected and deliberated, Wherein the jury was, or could have been
and premeditated that he would kill the de- misled thereby. It was not reversible eirer
ceased, or do him some serious bodily in- to give that instruction, as modified
jury, the probable result of which would be {[17] Defend ee >)
death. And if there be a reasonable doubt C and D "th git ea aie: SAG tc
whether he had willed and deliberated, and HS principles ‘seeped a, Hinee
Premeditated to kill the deceased, or do him
some serious bodily injury, which would
instructions are almost identical. By them
2: ee was instructed that if they be-
. : 1eved the killing was doi 1 i
ieee py Bed et to not wilfully, pi pam ree
degree. The Court further Batic? ae ale pease ioe ove! eae? one
Is that before any doubt con arise as to covered by instruction B, whieh wax greeg
= . oP ae a bari killing and defined the essential elements pa
dféidece pees a burden is on the der of the first degree, and by instruction
Foaaete the ne ie bo cave Satts- H, also given, which instructed the jury
fd soetkc islics - Sie 4 nce of that one of five verdicts could be returned:
tia -binuns eee set : murder of the first degree, murder of the
Shpeleccrdegicts fred hats y offered, did second degree, voluntary manslaughter, in-
eet cized portion above voluntary manslaughter and not guilty.
me Peis Hi defined the above-noted of-
m jo Re instruction, exclusive of fs and instructed the jury as to the
Hei ae! ast the jury of its Punishment authorized for each offense.
ro Eta i a = = reasonable doubts [18] Moreover, in view of the fact that
ik eir — as to the no evidence was offered by defendant in
ec eea <tgs oe of the support of his plea of not guilty, except
sidincasoc nila at! egree. The that pertaining to insanity, we do not think
Reha: = as - pen les to such that instructions C and D were supported
tes Fy sch Se : minds of the by any evidence. If defendant “with a
Seti eS ur ~ my Sanity or in- deadly weapon in his possession without
aT a by i — tule ap- any or upon very slight provocation gives
ef shiity of debe, a * = the issue to another a mortal wound, the prisoner is
ot ihe tela ne - o the elements prima facie guilty of wilful, deliberate and
bes tenes Boren oe must be proven premeditated killing, and the necessity rests
Hep Besa Asan doubt, upon him of showing extenuating circum-
ae x — ive of the modi- stances, and unless he proves such extenu-
ms the jury. But a plea ating circumstances, or the circumstances
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appear from the case made by the State,
he is guilty of murder of the first degree.”
State v. Cain, 20 W.Va. 679, 681.
[19, 20] There is no conflict between
the legal principle stated in the Cain case
and Code, 61-2-1. The prima facie pre-
. sumption of murder of the first degree, as
stated in the Cain case, rests upon facts
established by proof. The statutory pro-
vision that, with certain exceptions, “All
other murder is murder of the second de-
gree” applies to cases wherein the facts are
not completely proved. Thomas v. Com-
monwealth, 186 Va. 131, 41 S.E.2d 476, 479.
In this case the State had gone forward
with the proof and established the fact of
the killing; that little or no provocation
therefor existed; and from such proof a
presumption arises that it was murder of
the first degree. The only extenuating cir-
cumstance attempted to be proved by the
defendant was that he was insane.
Instruction E, tendered by defendant and
refused by the court, is fully covered by
instruction G, tendered by him and read to
the jury.
r
[21] Defendant tendered his instruc-
tion O, which would have told the jury that
deceased and the sheriff had no right to
arrest or attempt to arrest defendant with-
out a warrant, unless defendant had com-
mitted a felony or had committed some of-
fense less than a felony in the presence of
the deceased and the sheriff; and further
told the jury that a person had the right to
resist such arrest and repel- force with
force if he believed himself to be in danger
of great harm or injury from the arresting
officer or officers, and believed and had
reasonable grounds to believe that it was
necessary to save his own life or person
from great bodily harm that the killing of
the officer or officers would be justified.
This instruction does not state the law.
Sergeant Horne, as a member of the De-
partment of Public Safety, was empowered
and, indeed, required to C8 BIR Oxere
cise all of the powers conferred by law up-
ona sheriff, constable or any other peace
officer of this state *-* *.” Code, 15-
2-11, as amended. As‘such peace officer,
he could arrest a person without a warrant
if he had reasonable cause to believe that
43 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
such person had committed a felony, even
though the felony was not cominitted in
his presence, or even if it develops that
no felony had been actually perpetrated.
State v. Spangler, 120 W.Va. 72, 197. S.E.
360. See Allen v. Lopinsky, 81 W.Va. 13,
94 S.E. 369; State v. Lutz, 85 W.Va. 330,
101 S.E. 434. An informative discussion
‘of the subject of arrest without a warrant
will be found in 48 W.Va. Law Quarterly,
207.
[22] Another vice in instruction O, is
that it tells the jury that, in case of an
illegal arrest, force may be repelled with
force, if the person who is to be arrested
believes himself to be in imminent danger
of great bodily harm and injury from the
arresting officer or officers, and if he has
reasonable grounds to believe that it was
necessary to save his own life, he may kill
the officer or officers. As previously stated,
defendant, according to his own statement,
had been placed under arrest some time
before the killing and at a point approxi-
mately fifteen miles distant from the Hard-
ing home. The record does not disclose the
details of the actual arrest:
[23] At the time of the killing, as
we view this record, defendant was then
in lawful custody of the deccased officer.
By his own statement, he attempted to free
himself from that custody. But even if we
consider the killing as having taken place
while defendant was being illegally arrest-
ed, the rule with reference to the force he
could use is stated as follows: “In exer-
cising one’s right to resist an illegal arrest,
he has no right, in order to retain or regain
his liberty, to take the life of the officer,
unless he has reason to believe and does
believe he is in imminent danger, and that
it is necessary to do so in order to save his
own life, or to save himself from some
great bodily harm; and an instruction pur-
porting to define such right, which omits
to so state the law to the jury, is erron-
eous.” Pt. 17, Syl, State v. Clark, 64 W.
Va., 625, 63 S.E. 402, 403. See State v-
Holmes, 125 W.Va. 97, 03. S.E.2d 61;
State v. Lutz, supra; State v. Gum, 68 W.
Va. 105, 69 S.E. 463, 33 L.R.A.N.S., 150.
We have found no authority in this juris-
diction distinguishing between the rights of
a person resisting illegal arrest and a pef-
STATE v. McCAULEY W.Va 463
Cite as 43 S.E.2d 454
son attempting to escape from illegal cus-
tody. Viewing that phase of this case in
cither aspect, deféndant used excessive
force in resisting arrest or attempting to
escape from custody. The evidence fails to
establish that accused was in danger of los-
ing his life or of suffering great bodily
harm at the hands of deceased. It is to be
presumed that deceased, being an officer,
would do his duty and would not have wan-
tonly or needlessly wounded or killed de-
fendant. Accordingly, the refusal of the
trial court to give instruction O does not
constitute error.
[24] Closely connected with the refusal
of defendant’s instruction O is the denial
by the court of permission to defendant’s
counsel to argue to the jury that the arrest
was illegal. We have found nothing in
this record to indicate that deceased was
attempting to make an illegal arrest. He
was informed of the theft of the truck;
he found the truck at a point where defend-
ant was staying; he asked defendant for
the keys and thereupon defendant engaged
in an altercation with deceased and killed
him. Later the license, which had been
on the truck, was found in the possession
of defendant. Furthermore, the attempt on
the part of some person to destroy the
means of identifying the truck strongly
indicated that the truck had been stolen.
With these facts in mind, counsel should
not have been permitted to argue to the
jury that deceased was killed while at-
tempting to make an illegal arrest. In the
circumstances of this case the arrest of
defendant by deceased was fully justified,
and defendant, if innocent of the theft,
could easily have shown his innocence.
But when the keys were demanded, rather
than admit the incriminating fact of their
possession, defendant killed the arresting
oficer. Although counsel should be al-
lowed wide latitude in argument, we do not
think that they should be given the unlimit-
ed right to make an argument to the jury
which is not supported by the evidence nor
authorized by law. We see no error in the
refusal of the court to permit the argu-
Ment to be made.
[25] The last assignment of error re-
lates to the sufficiency of the evidence
under which defendant was convicted, and
the law applicable thereto. We reiterate
that the only evidence offered in support of
the plea of not guilty was to the effect that
defendant was insane. There was a sub-
stantial conflict in the testimony of the lay
and professional witnesses introduced by
defendant and the State on that phase of
the case. The jury resolved that conflict
against defendant, and found that he pos-
sessed sufficient mental capacity to know
right from wrong, and to understand the
consequences of his act in killing deceased.
State v. Beckner, 118 W. Va. 430, 436 et
seq., 190 S.E. 693. See State v. Fugate,
103 W.Va. 653; 138 S.E. 318; State v.
Evans, 94 W.Va. 47, 117 S.E. 885. The
verdict is supported by the evidence.
The facts of this case render applicable
the well-known principle of law that al-
though homicide is presumed to be murder
of the second degree, as hereinbefore indi-
cated, the killing of Sergeant Horne was
done upon little or no provocation, which
fact is fully established by the evidence of
the State, and is not controverted by the
evidence of defendant, if he was sane at
the time of the killing. The State having
established the facts and circumstances
surrounding the killing, and the issue of
defendant’s sanity being resolved against
him, the verdict and judgment are without
prejudicial error.
[26] Consonant with what we deem our
duty with respect to cases involving capi-
tal punishment, we have been careful to
consider in detail every aspect of the trial
given defendant. In doing so, we have
noted certain actions of the court which are
technically or procedurally irregular and
but for which the trial would have been
more perfectly handled. For instance, we
believe certain of the instructions could
have been worded in a more desirable man-
ner, But in the stress of a trial, it is under-
standable that imperfections were not then
perceived. It was not a perfect trial. But
our Constitution only affords to an accused
in any criminal case a fair trial. Defend-
ant received a fair trial. We consider as
particularly appropriate to the case at bar
the comments of this Court in State v.
Corey, 114 W.Va. 118, 128, 171 S.E. 114,
118: “It would be very unusual for a trial
of the duration of this one to be carried
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through without error. Perfect trials are
rare, if they ever occur. Upholding con-
victions does not depend upon the perfec-
tion of jury trials. It is not the proyince
of courts of review to dissect records of
trials for the purpose of determining
whether there was any departure from
technically correct procedure. An appellate
court does not reverse for error in a trial
unless it is reasonably evident that a party
to the trial was prejudiced by reason of
such error. Upon review of a state case,
the appellate court’s problem is to deter-
mine whether the convicted person has
probably been prejudicially affected by
error in the trial. If there seems to have
been no prejudice, the conviction must
stand. Where, in a criminal case, under
the whole evidence, the jury could not pro-
perly have returned any other verdict than
that which it did return convicting the ac-
cused, errors not plainly prejudicial will be
43 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
deemed inconscquential. State v. Rush, 108
W.Va. 254, 150 S.E. 740; State v. Deph-
enbaugh, 106 W.Va. 289, 145 S.E. 634. In
our opinion, in the case at bar, a verdict
carrying a less penalty under our law would
not have met the ends of justice and could
not properly have been returned by the
jury.” :
The result of this case is unfortunate sor
the defendant and his family, but he wes
evidently imbued with the thought that he
would resist the officer at all hazards. He
had threatened to shoot deceased, and
whether that intention existed at the time
he shot and killed him or existed prior
thereto, we can see nothing of an exculpa-
tory nature which calls for a reversal of
the judgment or that the verdict should be
sect aside. Therefore, the judgment of the
Circuit Court of Mineral County is af-
firmed.
Affirmed.
j
j
:
+
¥
COBB ry. SOUTH CAROLINA NAT. BANK S.C. 465
Cite as 43 8.E.2d 466
COBB v. SOUTH CAROLINA NAT.
BANK et al.
No. 15969.
Supreme Court of South Carolina.
July 11, 1947.
1. Appeal and error G>1-
Appeal is not an inherent or common-
law right, and the constitutional and stat-
utory provisions in regard thereto are con-
trolling.
2. Insane persons ©=29
The committee of person formeriy ad-
judged insane could appeal from order of
restoration of sanity resulting from pro-
bate court proceeding in which the com-
mittee was made and appeared as a party
and resisted the adjudication. Act April
19, 1943, 43 St. at Large, p. 197; Code 1942,
$§ 228, 230; Const. art. 5, §§ 15, 19.
—_—_>—_—
Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit
Court of Richland County; T. S. Sease,
Judge.
Proceeding by Owens T. Cobb, guardian
ad litem for Benjamin Gilmore Jones,
against the South Carolina National Bank,
as committee for Benjamin Gilmore Jones,
and others, whereby the incompetent might
be adjudged sane. From an order of the
probate court adjudging that incompetent
be relieved of the former judgment of in-
sanity, the bank, as committee, appealed to
the court of common pleas. From a judg-
ment refusing to dismiss the appeal, the
guardian ad litem appeals.
Affirmed.
Davis & Lanford, of Columbia, for ap-
pellant.
Nelson, Mullins & Grier,.of Columbia,
for respondents.
STUKES, Justice.
Benjamin Gilmore Jones was adjudged
mentally incompetent by the Probate Court
of Richland County on August 7, 1934 and
the South Carolina National Bank was ap-
pointed his Committee, in which capacity it
has since served, and, under order of the
court, is paying $40.00 per month.to the
48 S.E.2d—30
ward from the estate. The incompetent
was never committed to the State Hospital.
Upon petition of a relative a guardian
ad litem was appointed by the- court on
December 7, 1943 for the purpose of a pro-
ceeding under Act No. 136 of the Acts of
1943, April 19, 43 Stat. 197, whereby the
incompetent might be adjudged sane. The
Bank, as Committee, was made a respond-
ent, appeared by counsel at the hearing and
resisted an adjudication of sanity. The
Probate Court took testimony and after
consideration of it and the arguments con-
cluded that the former incompetent had
sufficiently regained his mental competency
to understand, comprehend and transact the
ordinary affairs of life, whereupon it was
adjudged that he be relieved of the former
judgment of insanity and the Committee
was ordered to make a final accounting and
apply for a discharge as such.
The Bank, as Committee, appealed to the
Court of Common Pleas upon grounds duly
served. Counsel for the petitioner, re-
spondent in that appeal, moved to dismiss
the latter. This‘the Circuit Court refused
to do after a hearing on January 22, 1945,
and the case reaches this Court upon the
petitioner’s appeal which has been argued
in such form as to present the single ques-
tion of whether the Committee of a person
formerly adjudged insane may appeal from
an order of restoration of sanity resulting
from a proceeding in the Probate Court, in
which proceeding the Committee is made,
and appears as, a party and resists the ad-
judication. The point appears to be with-
out precedent in our reports.
Reference to the applicable statute, supra,
discloses the following proviso in which
“Petitioner” means the person formerly ad-
judged insane: “The Petitioner or any
other interested person standing within the
family relationship of the insane person
may appeal from the Order of the Probate
Court to Common Pleas of the County
wherein the petition is brought and there a
trial be had de novo with a jury in like
manner as civil actions are tried. The pro-
visions of this sub-section shall be cumula-
tive to any other provision of law relative
to the adjudication of the sanity of a person
theretofore adjudged insane.”
SCHOOL GF LAY
2 SLAUGHTER
Pfost-Greene Family
OF JACKSON COUNTY, W. VA.
2
ss
A HISTORY OF THE TRAGEDY,
WITH A NOTICE OF THE EARLY
SETTLERS OF JACKSON COUNTY,
A SKETCH OF. THE FAMILY
—— AND
JOHN FF. MORGAR:
Full Details of the Awful Crime, from the Hour of its Conception to that
of the Execution of the Fiend who wrought Ruin of the Family.
Biographical Notices of the Officers of the Court, and
' Others connected with the Trial. With Details
of Morgan’s Escape, Flight and Recapture.
By OKEY J. MORRISON.
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.
_ Library
West Virginia University
The Gi
Sag
O. J. MORRISON,
‘GENERAL MERCHANT,
RIPLEY, JACKSON COUNTY, W. VA.
Who wrote up the Pfost-Greene Tragedy.
381455
EIS 8 PS PE Ren FE, ty OR: eS ET ERED ES, Fg eae ety ae ae
* ee ee ee Cats anes Ley COMES bees OO eA ee hfe = ese
Sei got hr AP ie her gyi aan ne hd fh PEER MEE CTT ee ee
3
JACKSON COUNTY.
THE SCENE OF THE ‘TRAGEDY:
SOME INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.
Sie SON COUNTY was created in 1831, from parts of Mason,
\? Kanawha and Wood, in compliance with an‘act of the General
Assemb!y of Virginia, passed March 1st of that year, and named
in hone: of the hero of New Orleans, who was at that time Presi-
dent of the United States. The present area of the county is 400
square miles.
Ripley, the seat of justice of the county, was laid out asa
town by Jacob Starcher, Esq., who named it in honor of Harry
Ripley, who was drowned in Big Mill Creek, near the present site
of the town, which became the seat of justice two years after the
formation of the county.
The first surveys of the county were made by George Wash-
ington and his assistant, Colonel William Crawford, in the sum-
mer of 1770, one of these, containing 1,450 acres, included the
site of the present town of Ravenswood. ‘Two of Washington’s
grand nieces, Henrietta S., wife of Henry Fitzhugh, and Lucy,
afterward the wife of Arthur M. Payne, inherited this land, and
between them it was divided in 1812, by Rudolph Roberts, of
Alexandria, Virginia, the agent of the Washington heirs. They
caused the town to be laid out in 1836, and named it Ravens-
worth, in honor of relatives of that name in England. But the
engravers, who first marked it on the map of Virginia, spelled it
Ravenswood, and the error was never corrected.
Before the coming of white men, bands of savages roamed
over these hills and valleys, and Jackson County is not without
10 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
1854 — when in his twentieth year —
he was united in marria
. .
with Miss Chloe Kountz. :
She was the daughter of Hen
ry
Kountz, Esq., who removed from the valley of the Buckhannon
River, about the year 1822, and established a home on the waters
of Pocotalico river within the territory afterwards included in
Jackson County. He reared a family of eight children — four
boys and four girls. Chloe, born April 1, 1836, was the eldest of
the daughters, and the only surviving one at the time of her
tragic death. Three of her brothers, E. G., residing in Jackson
County, and G. W., and J. W. Kountz, still survive.
se The two
atter are prominent farmers of Missouri.
The issue of the marriage of Francis Marion Pfost and
Chloe Kountz, were:
(a). Lelia Jane, born January 21, 1855.
G. W. Pfost's Family and Residence at Fair Plain, W. Va.
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 11
(2). George W., born January 8,1857. He was married at
the age of eighteen, and for sixteen years has been engaged in
the mercantile business at Fair Plain, Jackson County, West
Virginia, four miles northwest of the Pfost farm on which he was
born and reared. He has been successful and is now one of the
prominent business men of the County.
(). Dr. John M. Pfost, born February 1, 1860. He was
reared iu fackson County, and attended the Public Schools of his
neighborhood, and afterwards taught in these schools for four
years. Jr 1879, he began the study of medicine, and in 18381,
was oraduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at
Raltiirors, Maryland, with high honors. .In March, 1885, he
bewet the practice of medicine in Ripley, the seat of justice of
Tackson County. In 1886, be removed to Grass Lick, his old
home, where he remained for three years, establishing an exte:
sive practice. In October, 1889, he located in the town of
Spencer, the seat of justice of Roane County, where, in addition
to the practice of his profession, he engaged in the business of
pharmacy. He is to-day one of the leading physicians of that
county. On the 22d of March, 1891, he was married to Miss
Stella, daughter of S. S. Lockney, and sister of State Senator,
Hon. H. C. Lockney. Two children bless their home. Success
in business is a characteristic of the family. Dr. Pfost has ex-
emplified this.
(d@). Hon. H. F. Pfost, born Decmber 21,1861. He lived on
the Pfost farm until 1879, when by the consent of his mother
(his father having died in the year 1873), he went to Ripley,
Jackson County, West Virginia, with but a few dollars, where he
secured a position in a drug store, as a clerk at very small wages.
Having a mind that reached out for better things, he soon bought
his employer out, on time, and commenced an active business of
his own which he still pursues.
On August 10, 1891, when the first Bank was established in
Ripley, then and now known as “ The Bank of Ripley,” Mr Pfost
8 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY...
fined, as ennobling as that of other lands. Among the most active
and potent factors none have been more active and potent than
THE PFOST FAMILY,
which for nearly a hundred years has made its impress upon all
that has been best in the region in which it has resided, and its
representatives to-day are among the honored of an honorable
people. . ae
The family is of German extraction. The founder of a“
family in Jackson County was Isaac Pfost, who early in this
century removed from a pioneer home in the valley of the West
Fork of the Monongahela and reared a cabin on lands now the
property of Sheriff J. O. Shinn on Grass Lick Creek, a tributary
of Big Mill Creek, in what is now Jackson County. Here he
became the possessor of a thousand acres of land. He was one
of the wealthiest men in the County at the time of its formation,
and served, in 1831, as a member of the first grand jury that sat
for the body of the county. Hereareda family of seven children,
five sons — Abraham, Aaron, Isaac, Jr., Jacob and Jonathan, and
two daughters — Christena and Della.
Abraham Pfost was the first born of Isaac Pfost, the founder.
He married early in life, and reared a family of nine children on
the farm on which the triple murder was committed. ‘These
were George W., Allen, Isaac, Francis Marion, Lafayette, Adam,
Elmira, Elizabeth and Nancy. After the death of Abraham
Pfost, his widow married, secondly, Rev. William Harrison, a
prominent member of the Parkersbutg Conference (now the
West Virginia Conference) of the United Brethren Church. ‘The
issue of this marriage was Dr. B. E. Harrison, at present a
practicing and eminent physician residing at Cottageville, Jack-
son County.
The fourth of the children of Abraham Pfost was Francis
Marion, who was born on the farm where the tragedy occurred,
on the 11th day of January, 1835, and on the 18th day of April,
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
FRANCIS MARION PFOST.
Mrs. Chloe Greene’s first Husband.
MRS. CHLOE PFOST-GREENE. ~
The Murdered Lady.
2
Ad eee,
CAs t55 SS
Bs
BA Se Pp
tied Ae
6 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
its part in the record of Indian atrocities, and one among the last
of these perpetrated within the confines of what is now West
Virginia, occurred on Big Mill Creek in 1793. In February of
that year a party of four men left the garrison at Belleville for
the purpose of obtaining a supply of meat. Ina canoe they de-
scended the Ohio River to the mouth of Big Mill Creek, up which
stream they proceeded to a point near where Cottageville now
stands. Here they engaged in hunting, and soon they had an
abundance of that of which they came in search, but the creek
had frozen and they were unable to get. their canoe out to the
Ohio. Leaving Malcolm Coleman and James Ryan in camp,
Elijah Pixley and John Coleman went overland to the garrison.
Some days later, those left behind were attacked and Colenian was
killed and Ryan wounded, not so severely, however, but that he
was able to make his escape and return to Belleville. A party at
once set out for the camp. They found it plundered and the body
of Coleman stripped of its clothing. The body was buried on the
spot and the party returned to the garrison.
But soon the savage was to visit the southern bank of the
Ohio no more. His warwhoop and stealthy tread were alike to
cease on these beautiful hills and in these smiling valleys, which
were soon to become the dwelling place of civilized man. Inthe
month of May, 1796, William Hannamon, Benjamin Cox and
James McDade reared their cabins within the present limits of
Union District, and were thus the first to establish civilized homes
in what is now Jackson County. The first two became actual
settlers and began to fell the forest and cultivate the soil. McDade,
who was a soldier in the service of Virginia, selected a site for his
future home, but continued to discharge the duties assigned him—
that of Indian scout—and many days and nights did he spend in
the dreary wilderness between the mouths of the Great and Little
Kanawha Rivers, watching to catch a glimpse of the savage foe
on the shore of the Old Northwest Territory beyond the Ohio.
fond
i
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
Capt. Wm. Parsons and Samuel Tanner were the first settlers
in Warth’s Bottom, they settled there in 1797. John Parsons, son
of Wm. Parsons, was born in a hollow sycamore tree the same
year that his father came to Warth’s Bottom. Captain Wm. Par-
sons was the first settler at Ripley and his first wife was the first
person buried in the old cemetery at Ripley.
Other bold pioneers came to find homes within the present
bounds of the county. In the year 1800, Joseph Parsons, Cor-
nelius King and John Douglas arrived ; David Sayre and Alexan-
der Warth came in the first year of the century, and Reuben
Smith came in 1802; Thomas and John Hughes came in 1804;
Joseph Hall, Isaac Hide, Isaac Statts and Thomas Flowers, in
1806. In the year 1807, John DeWitt built the first cabin in
Muse’s Bottom, and a few months later cabins were reared near
him by John Boso, Thomas DeWitt, John Powers, Thomas Cole-
man and Ellis Nesselroad; in 1808, John Nesselroad settled at the
mouth of Sand Creek and the same year Lawrence Lane erected
the first cabin on the site of Ravenswood, where he and William
Bailey, who joined him two years later, cleared forty acres of land.
Then came George Swope, Noah Robinson, Franklin Wise, Daniel
Beaty, William Anderson, Eli Grandy, James Dougherty, James
Stanley and many others, so that by the year 1850, the population
had increased to stich numbers that the following year the new
county was checkered on the map of Virginia. In 1840, nearly
sixty years ago, there were 4,890 people in the county, which now
has an enumeration of 20,000.
The first settlers of Jackson County were as hardy pioneers
as ever braved the perils of the wilderness. They were sires of
noble sons, and the present homelike, and culture’ and refinement
of the county show that the men who have developed it were sons
of noble sires. They have established courts, secured justice,
evolved a high moral code, erected churches, built school houses
—in short, they have developed a civilization as cultured, as re-
12
HON. H. F. Prost,
was chosen its Cashier and also its Director, which positions he
held until the 10th day of August, 1897, when he was unani-
mously elected President of said Bank.
In 1893, The State Board of Public Works appointed him a
member of the State Board of Pharmacy. At its first meetin
held at Huntington, West Virginia, Mr. Pfost was elected oa
tary of said Board and also its Treasurer,
holds. which positions he now
On the 17th day of April, 1895, he was united in marriage
with Miss Flora L, Crow, daughter of William Crow
of Jackson County’s most accomplished young ladies. :
Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Pfost began business
without means some eighteen years ago, he is rated as one among
the wealthiest men of the County. While his business has been
of such a nature as to prev
Esq., one
: ent him from taking many vacations,
yet nothing was ever allowed to prevent his frequent visits to the
“old homestead,” which he always loved so well. It has been
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
MRS. FLORA I, PFOST AND SON, Wife of Hon. H. F. Pfost.
his custom ever since he lived at Ripley, to spend a week, twice
a year with his mother and sisters, although they lived only
about ten miles from him. .
(ce). Sarah, born February 26, 1864; died September 9, 1892.
(f). Susannah, born January 20, 1866.
(g). Nancy Alice, born January 26, 1869. Though seriously
wounded, she escaped with her life on the morning of the
tragedy.
(4). Matilda M., born May 27, 1871. She was one of the
victims of the tragedy.
A SECOND MARRIAGE.
Francis Marion Pfost, the father of these children, died
January 18, 1873, and three years later — September, 1876 — his
widow, Mrs. Chloe Pfost, was united in marriage with Edward
Greene, Esq., a representative of a family long prominent in
Virginia.
fete
= Hf
i
Ht
i
2
0 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
rangement with Morgan, moved in with
eae ant at Morgan, but Morgan escaped unhurt. Raines
le € neighborhood for a time, and then returned and delib
erately shot Morgan while he (Morgan) was cutting briers i ta
field; during this time Mrs. Raines had continued to ae
Morgan, and at the time Raines shot Morgan, John F. Mor
(Raines) was but two days old. : a
Rev. J. W. Greene's House, where Morgan Lived.
Raines then fled to Nicholas County, in this State, where he
was at large for about two years, and was then shot 3 d ki
while resisting arrest. a
Mrs. Raines a few years later married again and lived on the
waters of Grass Lick, two and one-half miles from where the
er family were murdered. This boy, John F. Morgan (Raines)
continued to reside with his mother until her ec, which
occurred when he was about nine or ten years old; then
. him to keep house for
him. After a time Raines became jealous of Morgan and his
SA cares
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. =
_wandered about from place to place, staying from three to twelve
months at a place, until about the year 1891, when he went to
make his home with the family the remaining portion of which
he afterwards deliberately murdered. At the time he went to
live with them, the Greene family was composed of Edward Greene,
the husband, Mrs. Chloe E. Greene, his wife, Jimmey F. Greene,
the Misses Matilda Pfost and Alice Pfost. Edward Greene, the
husband, died in 1895, while Morgan lived with the Greene family,
he was treated and cared for, as if he were a son and brother. He
was with the family for more than five years, remaining until the
month of February, 1896, when he married Miss Rebecca C. Hall,
a respectable lady of a good family; and in the following March
he moved to a farm owned by J. W. Greene, one and three-fourth
miles northwest of where the Greene family lived. Here he
resided at the time he committed the awful butchery.
After his marriage, Mrs. Greene often helped him by giving
him work-to do, and grain for bread: for himself and his devoted
wife, when he had not the money with which to buy it.
Mrs. Greene had given him a horse; this he traded in the
Spring of 1897, for two younger ones and executed a lien upon
them to secure a difference of $35.00, which sum was about due
at the time he murdered the Greene family.
On Friday evening before the murder, Morgan went to young
Ed. Southall, who lives with his brother near where the Greene
family resided and is known to keep money about him, and
insisted that Ed. should come to his (Morgan’s) house the next
day and go squirrel hunting with him, and upon the refusal of
Southall to go, Morgan went away, and at one o’clock that night
appeared at the home of Mrs. Chloe E. Greene and called for
Jimmey Greene, who, when he arose and went out, was told by
Morgan to get his gun and go with him; that he (Morgan) had
two racoons up a tree and that they would go and shoot them ;
Jimmey dressed, and taking his gun, went with Morgan, who,
when they had gotten about two hundred yards from the house,
18 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY,
and on the ridges Sheep and: cattle gtaze, the calves literally in
cloyer here and there in the aftermath. Grass Lick is an old
community, its people in good circumstances, Sheltered by com-
furtable homes, Practicing the cardinal virtues, fearing God, giv-
ing of their tithes to the church, at peace with each other and
with the world. It is ten miles from the disturbing influences of
any one of which may be taken as a representative of the found-
dation of our American greatness—a typical rural community,
The landscape is in keeping with the neighborhood. ‘The place
seems to be an ideal Spot, an Acadia in its rural] simplicity and
innocent happiness. But the events of recent days have made
Grass Lick a reproach in Jackson County, and the talk of the
country. .
-The Pfost homestead was a model old-time country home,
anda happier one was nowhere to be found. It was a Sabbath
day resort for both young and old of all the surrounding country.
It was the home of song, of happiness and good cheer. Francis
Marion Pfost and Edward Greene, husbands of the aged mother,
had passed from among the living; a daughter, Sarah, had died
early in life. Some of the Surviving children had gone from
beneath the parental roof to find homes for themselves and theirs,
so that the only inmates of the old*home were the aged mother
and Nancy, Alice and Matidla M., daughters of the first marriage,
and James Frederick Greene, the child of the second marriage,
But the other children—the absent ones—were often there, and
that mother, who had made all their young lives so happy, never
ceased to watch and wait for their coming. Often there were
home gatherings and greetings, because of the honorable and
successful lives of those to whom she had given birth. Here,
too, was the abode of charity; no stranger went from the door
r 19
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
came
the indwellers here. Such was the Pfost home as ge a _
ind went, and such it was through the summer of 1897. Bu
4 hat
destroyer was near; the Angel of Death hovered over t
| ire com-
on the morning of the 8d of November shocked the entire
munity and made sad many hearts.
JOHN F. MORGAN, the Murderer. |
JOHN F. MORGAN—THE AWFUL DEED.
John F. Morgan, who wrought the ruin at the Pfost eR
is about twenty-two years old; while he is known by mes
Morgan, his true name is Raines. C. T. aes : ines
Raines (the real father of John F. Moree) live Sol =e
County, near Gay Post Office, West ah ae a pe oe
tury ago. Morgan and his wife were divorced ; .
EDWARD GREENE, Second Husband of Mrs. Chloe G
oe a
James Greene, one of Morgan's Victir
reene, and Father of
ns.
A TERRIBLE CALAMITY, )
He and his father were connected with one of the saddest
events that ever occurred in the settlement of West Virginia
55 latter, John Greene, left his home in Botetourt County Vir.
ginia, about the beginning of the century and settled on Allen’
Fork of Pocatalico River, now in Jackson County :
reared a family of seven children of which lace was the
youngest and an only son. About the time that John Greene
came westward, Reuben Harrison settled on Mud Lick Fork of
Thirteen mile Creek now in Mason County
where he
He had seve
ra]
Bs : :
ons, among whom were Alexander, Josiah, and Zebulon, the
,
youngest, who was, at the time of which we wri
te, twelve v
a ; e years
These men were all hunters and together engaged in the
chase ; te this purpose they often visited each other. It was in
the spring of 1817 that John Greene came to the Harrisons on
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 15
one of these visits, bringing with him his little son Edward, aged
eleven years.
One day during their stay, Alexander Harrison a.id Mr. Greene
were hunting alone on 18-Mile Creek, and after having killed a
deer, found, about noon, a tree, which, from the scratches, they
supposed to contain a bear. Leaving their venison, they hastened
to the residence of Mr. Harrison—distant seven miles—for the
purpose of securing axes to fell the tree. When they started to
return the two boys—Edward Greene and Zebulon Harrison—
begged that they might be taken along to see the tree felled.
Their request was granted and the four arrived at the tree late in
the evening, and upon felling it found no bear. It was quite
common at that day for hunters to remain out all night, and they
being weary, concluded not to return home till the next day;
they then cast about for a suitable place in which to lodge; a
cave under a shelving rock was soon found, and here they built a
fire and lay down to rest, the men on one side of the fire, the
boys on the other, neither dreaming of the awful fate in store for
them. During the night the rock overhead, from the combined
effect of the frost going out and the fire beneath, burst, and a
huge mass fell upon them. Both men were crushed from the
hips down to the feet; the boys, though badly bruised were able
to crawl out, owing to the fact that the rock on their side of the
fire was partially supported by wood which they had carried in
for the fire. Morning dawned upon the awful scene, the men
crushed beneath the weight, from which the boys could not ex-
tricate them. They cried for water, and the boys poured the
powder from the horns and brought it. ‘They were bewildered
and knew not the way home—the only place from which relief
could come. ‘The day passed away and night came, and no relief;
another day and night of the most intense suffering, to which
any human being ywas ever subjected, passed away. Their friends
at home, alarmed at their long absence; were searching for them,
and late in the evening of the fourth day, Josiah Harrison, a
16 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
brother of one of the unfortunate men, found them. What a
horrid sight met his gaze! Death had already relieved his
brother from his suffering, and Greene was speechless, while the
boys were famishing from hunger and ready to die of wounds.
He put them upon the horse he was riding, and hastened home
for assistance. As he left, Greene turned his head and cast a long-
ing look of despair after him. He conducted the boys honie,
and collecting assistance, hastened back to the terrible spot, but
when they arrived Green’s spirit had taken its flight, and he, too,
was-no more. Only two masses, crushed almost beyond recog-
nition, remained. The rock was removed, and the bodies taken
out. No useless coffins enclosed them, logs were cut, from which
wide slabs were split, then narrow graves were dug, a slab put in
the bottom and two others placed upon edge, the bodies placed
Within, then another slab covered thein, and then all that was
niortal of John Greene and Alexander Harrison was burried at the
eutrance to that cave, and here they now repose. Both the boys
recovered and grew to be men. Zebulon Harrison died several
years since. Edward Greene, in 1828, wedded Sarah Parsons, and
established a home on Grass Lick Creek two years before Jackson
County was formed. He reared a family of seven children, three
of whom--John, Smith, and S. T Greene—still survive, and are
prominent citizens of the county. The mother died in April,
N74, and Edward Greene, as before stated, wedded, secondly,
Mrs. Chloe Pfost. One sou—James Frederick—was the issue of
this marriage. He was born July 6, 1879, his father, Edward
Greene dying December 18, 1895. This son—James Frederick—
was one of the victims of the tragedy.
THE PFOST-GREENE HOME.
Grass Lick Creek is the name of a settlement in Jackson
County, West Virginia. It is about ten miles south from Ripley,
the county seat, and is a thrifty and populous neighborhood:
Shocks of fodder yet. unhusked stand thick on the fertile bottoms,
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
—Where James Greene was found.
oo
I—Where Mrs. Chloe Greene was found,
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
3d Q.—Did you hold out any inducements to him or make
him any promises of protection?
3d A.—No, sir.
4th Q.—Did you then and there notify him there was none
to be held out, and that he had to make the statement freely and
of his will, if he wanted to make it to you?
5th Q—Propounded by the Court: You may state what
was said?
oth A.—It seems as if he had had a conversation with Mr.
Shinn, the Sheriff, and that it was understood that such a confes-
sion or statement was to be made, I don’t know wether it was
understood or not, that it was to be taken under oath, however, I
warned him against it, I told him the consequences of it.
6th O.—What did you tell him?
6th A.—As near as I could tell him that I wanted him to.
understand, if he made a statement to me, it was made without
any promises of protection or offer of reward, and that he was
not compelled to make it, just about the language used in the
affidavit.
(Your Honor, my objection to this affidavit is that the
prisoner was in the custody of two officers, and I don’t think,
under the law, that this affidavit ought to be allowed to go to the
jury, unless it is shown it is by his own free will and a voluntary
statement without any promise of protection. J don’t think it
is a proper document to go to the jury).
(By the Court: “That is the law unquestionably, where
there is any promise or hope of reward or any inducement in any
way, it is improper for the confession to go before the jury as
evidence; it must be freely and voluntary made in the strictest
sense before it is taken as testimony, and where a statement has
been made, it must be an act free and voluntary, and after hope
and fear has subsided, the facts would have to appear to the Court
showing that before it could go in as testimony. The Court will
further inquire of you, Mr. Shamblen, how long was it after the
prisoner talked first to you about the matter, until this affidavit
or statement in writing was given ?)
THE PFOSI-GREENE TRAGEDY. 45
6th A.—I suppose about'ten or fifteen minutes; I would not
be just certain about the time, it was not very long.
7th Q.—Were you present, when this conversation occurred
between Mr. Brown and the prisoner?
7th A.—Yes, sir.
8th Q.—You may state to the Court the entire conversation
that took place between the prisoner and Mr. Brown and others
or yourself, before this written statement was made?
8th A.—When Mr. Brown said that, he stood up and looked
me in the eyes, he says, ‘gentlemen, I am going to quit acting a
fool, I want to make a true statement of this affair, he says, I
killed these people.’
9th Q.—I want you to tell the conversation that occurred be-
tween Mr. Brown and the prisoner? At that time?
9th A.—I think Mr. Brown, as near I can remember, says to
Mr. Morgan, I don’t just remember, but I think he says, ‘1 un-
derstand that you want to confess or make a statement,’ I won't
be certain which word he used in this matter, and Morgan says
‘yes, I do,’ and Mr. Brown says ‘has anybody threatened you,
or tried to induce you in any way to make this statement or do,
you make it of your own free will, and if you do make it, that is
the way you must make it, of your own free will,’ and Mr. Morgan
remarked, that ‘I make it of my own free will,’ that is about
the language as near as I can tell it.
10th Q.—By the Court: Before the prisoner was brought
into the presence of Mr. Brown, was there any further or addi-
tional statement offered by you to the prisoner to make the con-
fession, or was there anything more said whether it would be
better or worse for him before you brought him in the presence
of Mr. Brown?
10th A.—I do not think there was anything further than
what I have stated to you, nothing further than when he straight-
ened up and said he was going to tell all about it; he says I want
you to keep everybody away, I don’t want anybody here but Mr.
2 “Encanto
a nmr en nes TeNne NALIN: ama a
40 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. . 41
8th Q.—What was the condition of the hatchet at that time?
8th A.—It was in the condition that it is now, only a little
more bloody, and hair on it. >
9th Q.—What kind of hair was on it?
9th A.—It looked like woman’s hair.
10th Q.—Were the hairs black or otherwise?
10th A.—They were dark looking.
11th Q.—How came you to go there?
11th A.—Alice Pfost came after me to my house.
12th Q.—And you went in response to her invitation?
12th A.—Yes, sir. -
13th Q.—In what county did you find Mrs. Greene when you
went there and found her in that condition ?
13th A.
14th O.—Were you present at the time of her death?
l4th A.—Yes, sir.
loth O.—State if she was conscious at any time after you
Jackson County.
found her up to the time of her death?
; 15th A.—She was not conscious of anything.
COURT HOUSE OF JACKSON COUNTY, in which the trial took place ;
4th Q.—Who was present there, if any person, at the time Cross-EXAMINATION.
you got there?
4th A.—Nobody but the two boys that went with me.
5th Q.—If you saw a mattock there at that time—look at
this mattock—and see if you saw it? (Witness is here handed
over the mattock by the Prosecuting Attorney to identify).
oth A.—Yes, sir. I saw that mattock setting around the
corner of the palings of the house.
16th Q.—About how far from the house did you find this
mattock ?
16th A.—Probably it would be fifty feet from the house.
17th Q.—In what direction?
17th A.—Rather in northwest direction.
18th Q.—You say it was laying by the palings?
18th A.—Yes, sir.
6th Q.—If you saw this hatchet there on that occasion, state
where it was? (Witness is handed hatchet to identify). | Re-Direct EXAMINATION.
6th A.—I saw that hatchet over in the garden back of the
house. 19th Q.—You say you found the mattock in the northwest
7th Q.—In the garden did you say? - direction?
7th A.—Yes, sir. 19th A.—Yes, sir.
2k ics oe
38 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
hemorrage that occurred at the base of the brain, death would
have occurred any time within one-half to six or eight hours.
(The witness was not cross-examined.)
Scene in the Court room while Mcrzan was being sentenced.
TESTIMONY OF DR. O. J. CASO.
Dr. O. J. Casto, second witness for the State, being duly
sworn, says:
Ist Q.—Were you present at the examination of the deceased
after they had been wounded; if so, if you got there before her
death or afterwards; state what you found upon the examination?
Ist A.—I arrived at the scene after the old lady had died, was
present at the autopsy and we found the wounds as described by
Dr. Bechtel, these different wounds upon her head; the one wound
in posterior portion of the brain was inflicted by a sharp instru-
ment, four inches in length, entering the brain, and the brain was
exuding at the time of the examination, that is, a portion of it.
2d Q.—Was there anything about the wound or inclination
of the wound by which you could tell whether the victim had
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. _ 39
been struck from behind, or had been struck by some one before?
2d A.—The wound over the eyebrow was possibly struck
by some one standing in front, this wound on the back portion of
the head was struck from behind.
3d Q.—State to the jury—I1 will ask you if you are a prac-
ticing physician?
38d A.—I am.
4th Q.—What was the necessary effect of these wounds?
4th A—Two of these wounds would have been necessarily
fatal.
5th QO.—The two mentioned by Dr. Bechtel?
5th A.—Yes, sir. This one in the back part of the head and
one on the top part.
6th O.—Were you acquainted with the deceased during her
lifetime?
6th A.—No, sir. I was not.
(The witness was not cross-examined).
TESTIMONY OF JOHN CHANCEY.
John Chancey, third witness for the State, being duly sworn,
says:
Ist O.—How far do you live from the home where the de-
ceased lived during her lifetime?
1st A.—Well, it is about 400 yards.
2d Q.—State if you were present at the place of this occur-
rence on the morning thereof, if so, about what time?
2d A.—Yes, sir. JI was there, it was between—it must have
been 5 o’clock in the morning. .
3d Q.—Did you see the deceased, Mrs. Chloe Greene, on that
occasion; if so, where and under what circumstances?
3d A.—When I got there in front of the house Mrs. Chloe
Greene was laying on her back with her head out off the porch
and her feet up against the porch, struggling in her blood.
BESTE Eee
es Pe ye
42 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
20th Q.—From where it lay, was it in the direction of the
hog-pen?
20th A.—Yes, sir.
21st Q.—Do you know where the body of Jas. F. Greene was
found, near the hog-pen?
21st A.—Yes, sir. (objection by counsel of defendant.)
(22d Q.—Is that the Hog-pen that you spoke of?
22d A.—Yes, sir. (Court over-ruled the objection.)
TESTIMONY OF JOHN W. SHAMBLEN.
John W. Shamblen, fourth witness for the State, being duly
sworn, says:
1st Q.—Are you acquainted with defendant, here at the bar,
John Morgan?
} Ist A.—Ves, sir, I am aquainted with him, I have often seen
him in the last four or five years, off and on. ay
24d Q. Did you have a conversation with him in reference
to the death of Mrs. Chloe Greene?
9d A.—Yes, sir.
3d Q—If he told you who killed her and with what she
was killed, tell it to the Court and jury ?
(Objection by counsel for defendant, saying that it is proper
in a case of this kind if you are attempting to prove a confession
or declaration to show that it was freely made and without hope
of reward. Court:—‘I understood that to be the case, when it
is objected to, the Court would not interfere in any matter that
is reasonable without that matter is objected to.”)
Prosecuting Attorney, Mr. Seaman asks, “ Mr. Brown, Coun-
sel for defendant: If you have a statement that this man has
sworn to, I wish you would let me have it.”
Mr. Brown in reply, says: —‘“‘I have not, I turned it over to
the Grand Jury.”
4th Q.—Were you an officer of the Court at the time you
had this conversation with this man?
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 43
4th A.—Mr. Shinn told me he would deputize me to help
take charge of him.
5th Q.—Did you hold out any inducements or hope of re-
ward to him to get him to make this confession or use any in-
fluence on him to get him to make a confession ?
5th A.—I did not offer him any reward or use any influence
to get him to make a statement, he just acted to me as if he did
not know ime from anybody else, and'I said to him—
(The Court instructs the jury that this evidence is for the
Court alone to consider, that they will not consider it at all.)
I said to him—Mr. Morgan, if I were you, I would straighten
up and not act this way; that the people know you are sane, it
would be better for you to straighten up and tell a straight story,
if you know anything about this matter.” .
Counsel for defense makes motion that the evidence con-
cerning the confession may be stricken out. Court rules that the
confession may be stricken out unless something had intervened,
that it is improper..
Prosecuting Attorney asks the Court to swear Mr. D. A.
Brown.
TESTIMONY OF DAVID A. BROWN.
Ist Q.—Mr. Brown, is that your sinatace?
Ist A.—Yes, sir.
24 Q.—You can just tell the jury what you know about that? .
294 A.—Well, all I know about this paper is, that after I had
returned from Mr. Chancey’s, above where this occurrence had
taken place, I met Mr. Shinn, the Sheriff, and he told me the de-
fendant was down with Mr. Shamblen in the field there, as well
as I remember, I don’t say that I will use his word exactly, there
was something said that he wanted to make a confession or state-
ment, or something to that effect; I went down with Mr. Shinn to
where he, the defendant was, and he and Mr. Shamblen were
sitting on a log, and this statement was made by him.
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
33d A.—Not very much at night, only when he was away
and could not get home. He worked in the day time and rested
at night.
34th Q.—Did he frequently work away from home?
34th A.—Yes, sir. He has worked away from home since
last March.
35th Q.—When he went away from home where he had
business, he would transact his business and come back home
again ?
35th A.—I suppose that was the Way it was, I sometimes
did not know what business he had at all.
36th Q.-—He never told you his business?
30th A.—No, sir, he seemed to want to be rambling all the
time, and, at that time, his mind seemed to be unsettled.
37th QO.—Tell us what he did when you got him awake that
night that you had such a hard time wakening him ?
37th A—TI never got him wakened up at all; he come in the
house, went to the fire-place, and set there and talked several
words and we had concluded he was awake, and the first thing I
knew he whirred around and went and-laid down on the bed
again, I knew then he was not at himself, I went to him and
never left him until I wakened him up.
38th Q.--Was that the occasion that he spoke to you about
dreaming of running the foot race?
38th A.—Yes, sir.
RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION.
39th Q.—For the last two or three months past he has been
working away from home pretty much all the time?
39th A.——-Yes, sir.
40th Q.—Since that time that he went to the Reunion has
he staid away from home several nights?
40th A.——-No, sir, I could not say as to that.
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 63
TESTIMONY,OF MR. CASTO.
Mr. Casto, second witness for the defendant, being duly
sworn, says:
Ist Q.—If you are any relation to the defendant, please relate
to the Court what it is?
Ist A.—He is a brother-in-law.
2d O.—Where do you live?
2d A.—Jackson County on the Bare Fork.
3d Q.—Do you remember the occasion spoken of by the de-
fendant’s wife of him being at your house on the last night of
the Reunion ?
3d A.—-Yes, sir.
4th Q.—When was that?
4th A.—About the 30th of September.
oth Q.—If there was any peculiar action, out of the de-
fendant during the night they were there, I wish you would tell
the Court and jury about it.
dth A.—Well, the first I knew about anything being wrong,
he was gone over the foot of the bed; he lit out and run out
doors and was gone, he hollered very viciously, and when I got
out he was standing by the house some ten feet away. I followed
right along and got hold of his left arm, then he turned aid
struck at me three licks, and then I went back to the house and
dressed; I was in my night clothes; then Mrs. Morgan and I
both went after him; he was in the brush; he seemed to object
to her taking hold of him, but we got him back to the house and
we went to the fire and stood there and talked a few words, and he
whirred around and got right into bed; she went to him and
talked to him and shook him until she got him awake and he
got up and come to the fire again.
6th Q.—Is that all that you know of any peculiar action?
6th A.—That is all I seen out of him.
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O4 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
me
(th Q.—Have you ever seen him since the Reunion ?
mt wit F ; ,
(th A.-—Never seen since until I saw him here.
Cross EXAMINATION.
8th QO.—How long did they visit at your house, Mr. Casto?
> 7A : .
Sth A.—They came in the evening about 12 o'clock and
staid until the next evening.
0 . . - .
Jth Q.—Did you notice anything unusual all the time he
was there?
Qg : ess wt : ~ <p . . :
Jth A.—No, sir. He was just as natural in his conversation
as ever, I just supposed he had been asleep and was dreaming that
night, he told me he had been dreaming of running a foot race.
Defendant here rests.
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 65
J.D. BRADLEY. Foreman of the Jury that convicted Morgan.
ARGUMENT OF COUNSEL.
The Prosecuting Attorney made the opening statement to
the jury, which was of fifteen minutes duration, followed by Mr. D.
A. Brown in a speech of thirty minutes in length, finishing up by
the Prosecuting Attorney, ina neat little sixteen minute speech.
Closing at 4:25 p.m.
INSTRUCTIONS BY THE COURT TO THE JURY.
“Tf the jury, in passing upon this offense, find that-the de-
fendant is guilty of cither one of these two offenses, they will say
the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree or murder in
the second degree. Murder in the first degree is punishable by
death or punishable by confinement in the penitentiary for life,
and you will find whether he shall be confined in the penitentiary
for life, and if you so find, you will so state in your verdict.”
The jury was then taken to their room,.and in one hour
returned the following verdict :
“We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the
first degree, as charged in the within indictment.”
Signed, J. D. Bradley, Foreman.
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THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
The jury was then discharged and court adjourned until Sat-
urday Morning, November 6, 1897.
Saturday a. m., November 6, 1897, the prisoner, J. F. Morgan,
is brought into the court room, and the court asks him: “Mr.
Morgan have you anything further to say why sentence of death
shall not be passed upon you?” To which the ptisoner replied in
a nervous manner: “Why, I have lots I would like to have
stated.” To which the court says: “That the court will hear
any statement that you may desire to make.” The prisoner
proceeding, said:
STATEMENT OF THE PRISONER.
i V190 3 + . at 73: E Z +: 1 . :
fam not the man that did the crime; I know this about it
that death? iuitl- he Shoat :
tnat death will be my portion, I suppose, but I hain’t the man
1
‘ 4 .
tdiat do1 the mur - anst ojve me 4] ' 1
at gone the murder; just give me a little time, and I will tell
you all about it.. Some of the people te
I might have done it, although I might have done it, I don't dis-
pute that, but if I did, I have no recollection of it.
‘Where is that man Floyd Pfost at—you know when he was
out at honie on a visit, very likely some of you know when he
and his Wile were out there on a visit, there was a man living
there on their place got into a little dispute about the crop; ie
ytieoht thes +c . ‘ te c
thought that he did not get such ground as he ought to have; he
tol-e » Tejce- > i r |
had taken a lease; he did not get to sow wheat on the corn
ground as he wanted to; he said he did not expect it to do another
man any good, if he could not get it to use. He come to me four
times to get me to help destroy this family; I told him I would
not do it; I would just as soon think of destroying my mother, if
she were living, and my own sisters as to molest that family of
people; I told him that I would not do it; he come to me the
evening that Mr. Pfost made his return back to Ripley, and he
says, “now is the chance to make the drive,” and he says, ‘‘ now
is the time to do the work:” I Says, “I am not going to do any
such a thing;’’ nor I did not; and he says, “we can work on
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 67
them so nice, they have got a gun down there; we can get them
out by saying we will go to shoot squirrels; get Floyd and Jim
out,” and I told him I would not do it, and he stayed and still kept
begging me; and I told him ‘I would not hurt that old lady to
the very last, and I did not.”
I seen a man a minute ago that lives right close there; right
below Mrs. Greene's, it was John Chancey, [calls to John
Chancey to step farward] “ Tell the Court? did not Ben Ander-
son go there on that day with a gun, that I was fixing the
fence ’’—/Court instfucts the prisoner to make his statement to
the Court.] ‘“ Well, any way, Floyd Pfost and his wife returned
back home and he said to me that day at the fence: ‘why, pshaw,
I did not think they would make their return until to-
morrow ;" he stood there kind of dejected and started off talking
and said: ‘‘ Be’ans Floyd has gone I will go back home;” he picked
up his gun and started up through the field. I was there at work
for Mrs. Greene that day that he come down there with his gun.
I was there fixing the yard fence for her and he made his return
back home and he come to me once after. He wanted to know
of me, if I would not go with him and help do the work, and I
held out and told him that I would not, and I did not. I say it
was an evident fact that I was there that night, but I did not kill
no one. What I done, gentlemen, I am not ashamed of. What I
done, I done to get out, and I did not hurt no one, the only one
that was hurt the worst by me, was the one that is living to-day ;
the one they called Alice. She was the only one I hurt, and I
did not not do that intentionally, and did not do it with any
intent whatever of destroying or killing the family. What I
did, I did to get out of the way; we had all been in a friendly
good humor, and had treated each other right. I had staid there.
with them some five years, five months to fifteen days, and many
a thing was done for me in the way of life’s comfort and many’s
the thing I have done forthem. Gentlemen, I am not guilty of this
crime; the people suspisioned something in some way, that I
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68 THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY.
was connected in this thing. It isa true and evident fact that
Jimmy and me got up that morning between 4 o'clock and day-
light; we were sitting around there talking some, and after while
they got up and lighted a fire and Jimmy and I started out-to the
stable; when we got nearly out to the bars we heard a strange
noise, still we never thought anything about it; it might have
cen a dog jumped over the bars, and he went on to the stable
and I made my return to the house, and the girls got up and I
washed iy face and hands. When I left there, there was five
months and fifteen days’ of my time that I never received a
cent for but a pair of breeches and pair of boots for, and I went
in, was talking to them about it. I asked them if they did not
realy think that they ought to allow me something more than
that for my work; that is all I said to them : they did not seem
to like it very well, but everything went along all right. 1 had
dropped a pencil out of my pocket in the kitchen and T-went in
there to sce if IT could find it. I could not find it and ] picked
up.the lamp to see if I could find it off the table. I did not find
my pencil, and I said it was only a piece of a pencil, let it go, it
did not amount to much, and I seen things were not working
tight. I did not know hardly what to think of it: seen the girls
had peculiar actions. I did not know what to think of it: one of
them started into the house and she threw the hatchet at me as I
went through into the house and it struck some place about
the door facing. I went into the room there: was standing by
the door; the door was right over this way and the gun set in the
corner this way, that I aimed to get into. I got into the room
and could not get out.
The old lady come at me with a club and another girl with
the gun and I says to them: “ Do not hurt no one, and no one is
going to hurt you;” the girl that got the gun, could not get it to
work, so she just struck at me with it, and I throwed up my
hand that way, to dodge the lick and kind of glanced it off, and I
had the hatchet in my hand that fell over on her head as |
THE PFOST-GREENE TRAGEDY. 69
knocked the lick off. Mrs. Greene was standing in the door with
aclub; that old lady—_that mother that had protected me in many
a thing—she struck at me with a club. I did not hit that poor
old woman with a purpose of destroying her, but just hit enough
merely to get out of the way. 1 don’t know which one it was
that struck at me with the gun, I just aimed to make my escape
and get out of the way. As I went out of there, here is this man -
‘that I was telling you about coming, the man that I know, I
seen this man strike this poor old woman, as he struck her again
and she begin staggering. ‘There was a big light in the house;
I could see this mau very plainly; he stood with his axe raised
aud I seen him hit this poor old woman, knock her down, and hit
her after she was down. It is an evident fact, of course, that the
people will, of course, destroy my life. I am satisfied of it; but
yet, reflect for a moment over the thing, ana think that I have to
ae up my life for something I did not do myself. I did not kill
no one, yet I have to die for it. The man that committed the
crime, done the murdering, is allowed to be free among the people.
This is right. That is all I have to say to these people here; it
is all J am going to say. What I have told the people here is the
truth, God being my helper. J prayed to God this morning, and
all night, that he might give me strength and quiet my nerves
that I might be able to come up here and tell the truth about this
matter, and that I did not do this crime.”
MORGAN SENTENCED.
The Court desires to say to you that you may make any
further statement, or if you desire to restate what you have
already stated; you will have time todo so hereafter. There is
nothing that lasts, nothing that is enduring and permanent ex-
cept truth; there is nothing that will live after you, or live after
all of us, except the truth; it is impossible for a falsehood to live
long. And the Court desires to impress upon you the neces
of telling only the truth in view of certain and almost immediate
104 HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
April 21 to eighteen years as an accessory to the murder of
Frank Naples; Patsi Corbi was given a life sentence on April 25,
1923. A special railroad car carried thirteen prisoners from
Clarksburg to Moundsville on April 22. Hundreds of people
stood along the Short-Line route as the train journeyed to
Moundsville.
In the trial for the death of Papara, Samuel Muratore, on
April 25, was sentenced to die on June 22, 1923, and Frank
Corbi was given a life sentence.*> At the close of the fifth trial
in connection with the Naples murder, Joe Sergi was sentenced
on June 20 to a ten-year prison term.%°
By late spring Harrison County people were so busy prepar-
ing for the 1923 Clarksburg Homecoming celebration that they
showed very little interest when Rocco Fiorello led a posse to
the skeleton of a victim of a holdup who had been killed two
years earlier and then placed in an abandoned mine near Graf-
ton.97
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia refused all
the convicted men a writ of error. On November 26, 1923,
Judge Southern resentenced Ferri, Connizarro, and Salamante
to die on January 4, 1924, and Patsy Corbi to a life sentence in
prison.38 The judge resentenced Aillio and Muratore to die in
Moundsville on January 11, 1924.°?
Rocco Fiorello died July 20, 1924, one day before he was to
meet with officers in Uniontown to help them round up
the Camorristi operating in the Pennsylvania city. The Black
Handers had earlier sent Fiorello a warning: “We'll get you;
we'll take you back to Pennsylvania alive and after we torture
you to death, we’ll drink your blood.”’”°
But the Camorristi did not take their victim away from Harri-
son County. Fiorello’s Lexington roadster was found July 21,
1924, standing in the West Fork River near Brown’s Creek, the
red taillight still burning; Fiorello’s body was found on the
Claude Davisson farm near Mount Clare on July 23. Investiga-
tion by the police revealed that as Fiorello and his girl friend
had walked from the Mount Clare home of the woman’s broth-
er, a shot—originating perhaps from under the front steps of the
house—had felled Rocco Fiorello.
35. Ibid., p. 100.
36. Ibid., p. 160.
37. The Daily Telegram, Clarksburg, W. Va., May 27, 1923.
38. Harrison County, W. Va., Criminal Order Book No. 8, p. 290.
39. Ibid., p. 306.
40. The Daily Telegram, Clarksburg, W. Va., July 21, 1924.
O'DONNELL, CHarles, white, hanged Morgantown (We Vae?) on June Ay A197
Rick Dent condensed the following from an execution pamphlet, for cite see small card:
"Charles O'Donnell = no copy available, Charles O'Donnell executed at Morgantown (assume
West Virginia) on June 19, 1797, for the murder of his son. Although he murdered a woman
about === years before which was not discovered until this confession, O'Donnel was born
in Bonnegec, Ireland. O'Donnel was married until 1796, The hada daughter. ‘hen the
daughter was about seven months old, Christopher Shokey's wife came to his house, being
his neighbor, She took O'Donnel's daughter in her arms and began blessing it in her own
name. O'Donnel, fearing that she would hurt his child by her witchcraft, snatched the
child from her arms upon which the neighbor went away. The next day the daughter took
ill, was thrown into fits and was thought to be under an evil eye. O'Donnel went to Mrs,
Shokey to request she heal the child but she refused, The daughter grew worse and it was
expected that she would die, Some weeks later D'Donnel met Mrs, Shokey accidentally about
3/4"s of a mile from the Rock Forge on the Antietam. He took her silk handkerchief and
tied it about her neck, then he pulled down a locust grub, and tying the handkerchief to it,
let it go, by which she was strangled to death. O'Donnel's son, William, age 15, had
continuously disobeyed his father and had thrown an axe at his father, trying to kill BBRWE
him, After that, William would bring the axe into the house and lay it by his bed, Ofte
Donnel believed his son, along with others in the family, were going to kill Haag
him, O'Donnel prepared a rope and hung it over the bedehead where William slept. He
put the rope around Willaam's neck and gave it a BR pull. William woke up and begged
for his life, ‘After he had prayed about 20 minutes, resting on his knees with his back
to me, he arose, and, as he got up, I jerked the ropes; being strangled, he fell to the
floor, I then put my knees against his shoulders and drew the rope round the bed post
w ith all my strength and held about ten minutes, in which time he expired,' O'Donnel
believed his children, who were living elsewhere with the mother, were waitine for him
to get drink and pass out in the house. Then they would burn the house down,"
NAME
Samuel Mapas or €
PLACE — CITY OR COUNTY
We Va, SP (Harrison)
DOE & MEANS
h, 215-192),
RESIDENCE
GEN
DOB OR AGE RACE
| Whit e.
| OCCUPATION
Clarksburg
RECORD
DATE | OTHER
1-20-1922
CRIME
Murder
VICTIM AGE METHOD
James Papara, alias "Jimmy
Little" Italian merchant
MOTIVE
SYNOPSIS
Papera, Clarksburg Italian merchant, killed at Kelly Hill, One hour before Ferri had been
—tanred on I=, ne made a statement claiming Muratore annocent and he was granted a stay of
exeeutaon for investigation. Governor declined further intervention when investigation showed
PU y S was dD VaADLY a o = Y De E a ° PARKSBUR UB si HAR
Feb, 1s, 192hie
sapaah and others a short cine before and bidding good bye ° As he was led €0 HAALKXKAUA sa ees
he scareely trembled and his nerves were in good condition, Original date of execution had been
Jan .l11 when granted respite, Until an hour before death, hoped for commutation, When time
for death grew near and it became obvious he would not receive commutation, he appeared resigned.
Maintained innocence until last. Body taken in charge by Catholic priest. CLARKSBURB DAILY
TELPGRAPH, XHKX Feb, 16, 192),
Note: oe? i have sang af hs ERmOnAM once for ae = oF paige did - ny Am ordering
TRIAL
APPEALS
LAST WORDS
EXECUTION
SOURCE
FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY-DOTHAN
vp oe bey i 7
YP HeREL PETTITT ee
A
i
R
§
B
’
&
FE
78 W. Va. 51 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES
plicable statute. When the employer is
powerless to require or obtain a physical
examination and the employee is unwilling
to submit to such examination, it would
be impossible, in, any case, to reopen the
claim at the instance of the employer in
the absence of medical evidence of the
condition of the employee when the appli-
cation is filed. The employee can always
furnish information as to his condition,
but unless the employee consents to a physi-
cal examination or the commissioner fc-
quires him to undergo such examination the
employer can not ordinarily obtain medical
knowledge of the condition of the employee.
With regard to the application in this case
it does not appear that the employee will
consent to submit to a physical examination
and the commissioner has’ refused to re-
quire him to do so. :
[8] As already indicated, the present
condition of the employee and the character
of the work in which he is now engaged
are not considered or determined on this
appeal. It is the province of the commis-
sioner to inquire into, develop and deter-
-mine these questions upon a hearing on the
application. " Upon the hearing the previous
finding of the commissioner concerning the
condition of the claimant should not be set
aside except for good cause, Johnson v.
State Compensation Commissioner, 109 W.
Va. 316, 154 S.E. 766, and in order to
- modify the award it must affirmatively ap-
pear that the present condition of the claim-
ant has materially improved over that
shown to exist at the time the award of
permanent total disability was made: Ash-
worth v. State Compensation Commission-
er, 117 W.Va. 23, 183 S.E. 912. The only
question now before this Court, however,
is whether the application discloses such
cause for a modification of the prior award
of permanent total disability as entitles the
employer to a hearing by the commissioner
on that issue and to reopen the case for
that purpose under the provisions of Sec-
tion 1-c and 1-d of the statute. In holding
that the application makes a sufficient show-
ing for that purpose this Court does not
entertain or express any opinion on the
merits of the issues to be passed upon and
determined upon the hearing by the com-
missioner.
For the reasons stated the order of the
Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board
which affirmed the order of the State Com-
pensation Commissioner holding the appli-
cation insufficient and refusing to reopen
the case and the order of the commissioner
are reversed and set ‘aside; and this case
is remanded to the commissioner with di-
rections to reopen the case and to hear and
determine the issues presented by the ap-
plication.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
o © Key NUMBER SYSTEM,
sume
STATE v. PETERSON.
No. 10027.
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
Dee. 7, 1948.
1. Criminal law €=333
In criminal prosecutions the burden of
proving an alibi is on the accused,
2. Homicide €=253(3) s
Evidence was sufficient to sustain find-
ing that defendant was guilty of wilful,
deliberate, premeditated and unlawful kill-
ing of decedent.
3. Criminal law 335
In criminal prosecutions when personal
presence is essential to commission of
crime, state must prove actual presence of
accused at- place where and time when
crime was committed.
4. Homicide 6=169(2), 338(1)
In prosecution for murder, testimony
of separated husband concerning detend-
ant’s visits with murdered wife after she
and husband began to live apart was rele-
vant to show that defendant knew wife inti-
mately and subétantiated testimony that de-
fendant went to wife’s house late on night
of murder and its admission was not pre-
judicial error.
5. Criminal law <=404(3)
In a criminal prosecution, ,if evidence
tends to show that an instrument sought to
be admitted in evidence was used in per-
petration of crime charged in indictment, it
STATE vy. PETERSON W. Va. 79
Cite as 51 S.E.2d 78
may be admitted and produced for inspec-
tion of jury.
6. Criminal law €=1169(3)
In prosecution for murder, where wit-
‘ness identified pistol which witness had not
seen on day of homicide and was not able
to state positively had been used by defend-
ant in committing homicide but pistol was
later connected with commission of alleged
crime and defendant first introduced into
evidence fact that he owned pistol, testi-
mony did not prejudice defendant.
7. Witnesses €=40(1), 45(2)
Where in preliminary examination, wit-
ness 7 years old testified that he learned in
Sunday School that devil got people who
sometimes do not tell truth, that he was in
second grade in school and had attended
Sunday School, and gave names of his
teachers in first and second grades and
proceeded to count to 24 until he was
stopped by counsel and also successfully
solved a simple problem in addition, witness
was well qualified to testify.
8. Criminal taw €—656(!)
Because of trial judge’s high official
position he should be very careful that he
does not, by inadvertent remarks, influence
jury in favor of or against witness’ testi-
mony.
9. Criminal law G=1166'/2(12)
Although remarks or ruling of court
objected to may be inadvertent, question
for’ appellate court is whether remark or
ruling has had a deleterious effect on jury.
10. Criminal law €=1035(3)
In prosecution for murder where at con-
clusion of preliminary examination bearing
on competency of an infant witness, trial
judge stated “This seems to be a very
bright boy for his age. Son, when they ask
you questions you just tell the truth,” fail-
ure of defendant’s counsel to object or to
move for an instruction rendered error, if
any, nonreversible.
11. Witnesses ©2227
In prosecution for murder, where
minor witness prior to giving testimony in
preliminary examination to test his compe-
tency was first duly sworn, it was not neces-
sary that witness be sworn again prior to
his testimony in chief on merits. ;
12. Witnesses €=79(1, 2)
It is duty of trial court to pass on
competency of an infant witness.
13. Criminal law €=1036(2)
In prosecution for murder, where pre-
liminary examination of infant witness was
conducted by prosecuting attorncy, and
counsel for defendant did not object to
examination and defendant on appeal
claimed court erred in failing to conduct
examination himself, ground of error not
being based on constitutional or jurisdic-
tional grounds could not be raised in appel-
late court for first time.
14. Criminal law €=—814(3)
Instruction should have reference to
the facts in a case on trial.
15. Criminal law €=761(6)
In prosecution for murder, where de-
fendant produced substantial evidence in
support of defense of alibi and court gave
instruction offered by defendant fully cov-
ering question of alibi, it was not error to
instruct jury that if prisoner with deadly
weapon in his possession without any or
upon very slight provocation gives to anoth-
er a deadly wound, prisoner is prima facie
guilty of wilful, deliberate, and premedi-
tated killing, since such instruction did not
intend to impress upon jury that defendant
was present at time and place of homicide.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. “In criminal prosecutions, while
the burden of proving an alibi is on the
accused, on account of its affirmative na-
ture, yet this does not dispense with the
necessity of the state’s proving the actual
presence of the accused at the place where,
at the time when, the crime was committed,
when personal presence is essential to the
comuission of the crime; and if, from the
evidence, the jury have a reasonable doubt
of the presence of the accused at the place
where, at the time when, the offence was
committed, they should acquit him.” State
v. Lowry, 42 W.Va. 205, 24 S.E,.961,- Pt. 3,
Syl.
2. In a criminal prosecution, if the
evidence tends to show that an insrument
2
ae | See
Syoetq *pMg *NOSUMLad
‘posuey
qseM,
sath
tae
rie yee,
oe
ABE eh.
ont tee OE EAE SE TT
7
wet oye. ATR
58
fitiaiiy Laie UMUeLlaneL Calli ali Lie
bedy was removed.
“Better wait a while,” Chief Duckworth
said, as the undertaker prepared to return
to Clarksburg.
He ordered the digging resumed. Care-
fully, now, the shovels went into the soft
earth. There was a feeling that right here,
perhaps, there were other bodies—bodies
of Mrs. Eicher’s three children.
But it was farther along the ditch—nearer
to the ravine—that the diggers came across
another object. A sheet was wrapped
around it. Carefully the men lifted this
bundle from the ditch, and as Chief Duck-
worth pulled the covering from it, he found
the body of a girl, fully clothed—a young
girl, perhaps about fourteen. :
Then the grim task in the ditch was re-
sumed. Down farther toward the ravine
the diggers came across the third object,
also bound in a sheet. Two small bodies—
of a boy and a girl—were revealed.
a
Tie romantic widow of Park Ridge,
Illinois, and her three children were found
at last.
The men who had gathered from the near-
by villages wore a vengeful look. The
women’s faces were grave. There was an
undercurrent of feeling that boded no good
for the man held in the Clarksburg police
station. Suddenly there was a movement
toward town. The murmurs and threats
that were in an undertone at the start grew
loud now. Chief Duckworth and Detective
Southern hopped in their car and started ‘
for Clarksburg ahead of the mob. Other
officers, who had come on the scene as the
news of the finding of the bodies spread,
were left to guard the property and keep
away the curious.
West Virginia state police were called in
by Chief Duckworth. Sheriff William Grimm
assembled his deputies about the’ police
station, and swore in special deputies for
any emergency that might arise.
Chief Duckworth, Sheriff Grimm, De-
tective Southern and the Park Ridge offi-
cers carried the tidings of the finding of
the bodies to Powers in his cell. The man
hardly blinked an eye as he listened to the
recitation of the ghastly find in his garage
ditch.
As the noise of an angry crowd outside
mounted, the officers spirited Powers from
the police station and into the County Jail.
Between sessions of grilling by the offi-
cers during the evening, Powers, closely
guarded, was taken from the jail to the
morgue.
In the morgue he stood before the four
bodies, but he was silent and apparently
unmoved.
“Do you know who did this?” Chief Duck-
worth démanded.
The prisoner blinked once or twice be-
hind his horn-rimmed glasses, then turned
his gaze full upon the police chief.
“I do not,” he said, with an air of finality.
The officers took him back to the county
jail, where the grilling that started earlier
went on. Powers began to weaken. He
switched his story of how Mrs. Eicher’s
effects came to the garage. Originally he
had said they were sent there. Now he
was confused. He didn’t know how they
had got there.
Outside the jail now a mob was gather-
ing. Angry voices penetrated to the room
where the officers questioned the prisoner.
Powers could hear them. There was a look
of alarm in his eyes. Sheriff Grimm went
outside and prevailed upon the crowd to
disperse, and trouble was averted for the
time being.
Long into the night the grilling of the
prisoner went on. Finally, worn out by
many sleepless hours, Chief Duckworth,
along with Sheriff Grimm and his chief
deputy, S. C. Bond, retired for rest.
AYE LELLIVE WYULICL LS edd de OEVEAAL Yds
officers stayed with the prisoner. After
more than ten hours of grilling the forti-
tude of the romantic philanderer deserted
him as dawn broke.
“Yes, I did it,” he cried out. “Later, after
I have seen my lawyer, I will tell you the
whole story.”
The officers hustled him into’ solitary con-
finement and went to get some rest. They
were virtually mental and physical wrecks
after the grilling.
Meantime, autopsies on the bodies of the
four victims had revealed they had been
torture victims. Their stomachs had been
foodless for five days. Mrs. Eicher’s hands
had been tied behind her. Two of the
children had been gagged and their hands,
too, were tied behind them. The boy,
Harry, had been struck on the head. His
skull was found to be fractured in two
places.
There were marks on their throats, as if
the victims had been hanged. The rope,
dangling from the garage rafter above the
trap door, partially bore this out, but the
noose that might have been around the
necks was missing.
Before noon, Saturday, West Virginia’s
chain gang—convicts from the state peni-
tentiary at Moundsville—were at Powers’
murder garage, digging under the super-
vision of the state police. There was the
possibility that the ramifications of Powers’
love scheme were still wider—that Quiet
Dell held more ghastly secrets than had
already been revealed.
Two hammers and a wrench were dug
from the garage ditch by the convicts.
One of these, crimson-stained, had appar-
ently been the weapon that crushed the
skull of the boy, Harry. Then the noose
part of the rope found hanging in the garage
was dug up.
At the news of the discovery of the four
bodies in the ditch grave, inquiries started
to come from other cities. One of these
was from Northboro, Massachusetts, where
relatives of Mrs. Lemke, reading of the
horrible discovery and recalling her mail
romance with this same man, were frantic
in the fear that she had met a fate similar
to the others.
Saturday afternoon, while diggers were
still tearing at the garage ditch and property
around the building, officers went at
Powers for a more detailed confession. He
had not talked—nor had they tried to in-
duce him to do so—after his early-morning
breakdown that brought the bare admis-
sion that he had taken the lives of the four
victims found.
But the officers found the prisoner as
stubborn as before.
.Reverend T. E. Gainer, pastor of the
United Brethren Church of Clarksburg, was
admitted to his cell about 3:30 in the after-
noon.
Read to me from the Bible,” Powers
fairly shrieked, and the minister read, con-
cluding with the Twenty-third Psalm.
After the reading, Powers asked that he
be left alone for half an hour that he might
read the Scriptures by himself.
When Powers had concluded his Scrip-
ture reading, Sheriff Grimm announced
he signed a written confession. The con-
fession, lacking in detail and simply ad-
mitting that he had killed the widow and
her three children, follows:
My name is Harry F. Powers, alias Cor-
nelius Pierson. I did, in the month of July,
1931, murder Mrs. Asta Buick Eicher, her
three children, Greta, Harry and Annabel,
by using a hammer and strangulation.
I make this statement of my own free
will and accord, without. any. threat or
promises of immunity.
Dated this 29th day of August, 1931.
wuUuIce
Dell, the digging at the garage
under the direction of State Police.
diggers were about to be called off for the
day when the spade of one struck an ob-
ject—something wrapped in burlap. The
Ks
went on 4
The 4
object was lifted from the ditch and the 4
burlap removed—to reveal the body of an- 4
other woman.
This body was clothed.
woman perhaps fifty years of age.
It was that of ad
She
had been strangled. The marks of a rope 4
were plainly visible on her neck.
The morgue ambulance carried the body
away to rest beside those of the other four
victims.
State police carried the news of the find-
ing of the fifth body to Chief Duckworth
and Sheriff Grimm just as they were pre-, P
paring to go after Powers again. They took ™
the announcement of the new find to the “
prisoner.
At that moment, outside the jail, there ©
was the rumbling noise of a maddened mob. “J
The news of the fifth murder had spread, 7}
more rapidly than had the story of the find-
ing of the other bodies. The crowd, num-
bering several thousand, had moved down
from Quiet Dell and was grouped about
the jail.
Cries of “Bring out that man!” rang
through the multitude as Powers heard
that the fifth victim had been found.
Sheriff Grimm was in the cell with the
prisoner. Powers’ face paled. He trembled
and. cowered in his cell. ,
“Yes, I did it,’ he said. “It’s the body
of a friend of Mrs. Eicher, from Park
Ridge. The two women came here together.
I don’t know her name.”
A s the noise from the crowd outside grew ‘-
louder, he begged, “Put me in a safe cell.”
Sheriff Grimm transferred him to a cell far |
from the street.
Then he talked.
“TI drove all five—the two women and the
three children—out to the garage one night
in July,” he said.
“It was late at night. i
The folks were curious to go downstairs. I q
I pushed the two women
Then
led them down.
into one room and locked the door.
I shoved the children into another room 4
and locked that door. %
“IT killed the women first.
I can’t re- |
member which one of them went first. I 4
strangled them—not with my hands; with ¢
some rope. I had to tie the hands of that
friend of Mrs. Eicher. She was larger than’;
But. it =
the other one and harder to quiet.
was easy.”
Then he went into the room where the ..;
children had been shoved.
cried,” he went on. “I tied the hands of;
one of them; strangled them both.
i
boy fought some.” EY
“The little girls =
Rw
The*
*
2
Powers said he had intended having the %
boy, Harry, witness the Villines. but whon »
the lad screamed he bashed him over the ©
head with a hammer anu a wrencn.
Buin 3
a hammer and a wrench, found at the gar- 4
age, bore mute testimony to this act of the
fiend.
As Powers ended his story, the cries of the
mob outside the jail grew louder. Finally.4
Sheriff Grimm faced the mob from the jail
steps. “Let the law take its course,” he
pleaded. “Let the state hang him.” After
this plea, the crowd milled around for}
awhile, then started to move away and)
order was soon restored. iS
The police then started a nationwid
checkup of the addresses found among;
Powers’ effects, in the belief that perhaps:
other girls and women had been his vic#
tims. They found in Detroit a woman wh@;
had her trousseau prepared and who wag
planning to marry Powers, when the word
came that her mail-order sweetheart wai
a killer.
She, too, had known him as Pierson.
is
Be en Bo
tnis, -@
{ the nation’s great- "=.
While doing
BS.
Ses
onial games—enough © ce
that in Powers they —
with a good position, * |
me from oil and gas ¥
tes. There were pas- %
fror ee hundred 2
ls poured out
ail-u...r Romeo as
e love which he said =
t woman. oe
tters in Powers’ own *.
tters that told over %
ry that was false to .
letters that indicated .
with plenty to offer
hen in truth he was
indler at best, using
ings nets epee
en he first wrote to 4
a copy of this letter, »
’s Park Ridge garage, “<1
n as Pierson then— @
e women he met, the §
out.» But he found ©
lling and ready to an-~—
nt which appeared in 4
e American Friendship ®
d by ‘the letters that:
a “love racketeer” on
Risers turned their at- 7)
stains on the walls and=
dangled from a rafter 9
f the garage. Several =
iately below it. i.
ces,” Chief Duckworth 7
t a powerful shoulder ™
larger ones and started}
e ro The other offi-%
agai hich the chief
er slid from its resting 7
eared in the floor. As§
farther across the room,®
.d and formed into
opeared on one side.
r, directly below the rop
the rafter, not entirel
or of the old gallows.
inky blackness from be
officers, but there wer
> top. One of the office
ight and they crowded
. room empty, but ther %
e floor as if some Id
igh from the floor above.
ool at one point, where®
ick above had been larger.”
rs scraped at it with the?
of his shoe. It was con=’
- had been there perhaps:
. revealed a door leading)’
space into which the foul
wded. Through this doo! A
theit way along a serigge
ooms. All of them wer
ved with crimson. =
that murder has been dom
kworth remarked, gri
ers, as they went over UR
>, seeking one or two i
Rae
“Say: seca a Si As
ni, he officers W
e, searcuing for something
them on the proper tralge
in’t know what any USé
would lead to eventually
.e soon. The tired officehiie
hout the night, turned OF
Qy
back to Clarksburg, where they hoped they
might learn something from Powers.
When they arrived, Powers was sleeping
sound as a top. But they awakened him,
and not too gently. Then they began firing
questions at him from all sides. He said
nothing, but glared at them. Finally they
raced him out to the garage. Here, this
mail-order wooer of women walked about
with the officers, discussing the building
with them and explaining that he had built
it as a place where he might work un-
disturbed.
Eventually he was taken back to his cell,
and the chief and his aides retired to their
office to go over what they had found and
to map out their future program.
So far, they had found evidence aplenty
that some person who was in Clarksburg—
or had been—knew something about the
disappearance of Mrs. Eicher and her chil-
dren. That person was Powers himself,
they were positive, despite his protestations.
Somewhere about that mysterious garage
with its dungeon-like lower rooms, they
believed they would find the answer to the
mystery they were trying to solve.
The officers were all tired enough to
sleep now, but sleep was furthest from
their minds. Suddenly the telephone rang.
There was a man on the line.
“I thought you might be interested to
know that I helped Powers dig a ditch from
his garage a few weeks ago,” the voice
said.
The man explained it was a drainage
ditch to carry off water from the basement
toilet in the garage building, at least, he
had understood it was for that purpose.
The chief, Southern and the Park Ridge
officers started for the garage again.
They didn’t go immediately inside this
time. They walked around to the rear of
the building. Behind the structure the land
sloped downward to a creek that fiowed
through a deeply wooded gully. Plainly
discernible was the ditch which had been
dug for the building drainage. Chief Duck-
worth walked along the ditch trail toward
the ravine, and came upon a section that
had recently been dug.
There was a hasty consultation among
the officers, and they decided to send back
to Clarksburg for laborers with picks and
shovels.
It was after noon before any actual dig-
ging was done. The men were started in
the ditch right where it began against the
garage building. The ground was soft and
spades were sufficient to lift it. Presently
one of the spades struck a buried object.
The dirt was quickly cleared away and a
drainage pipe was revealed. But that did not
halt the digging.
Finally the chief called one of the laborers
away from the others and took him down
the ditch trail toward the ravine, to the
spot where it had appeared to him, earlier,
there had been recent digging.
“Dig here,” he told the man, and a spade
cut its way into the soft earth. The digger
worked fast, though cautiously. After a
while the spade struck something that ap-
peared to hinder it from going down
farther. Other diggers were called down
from above and put into the ditch. They
were told to scrape away the soft earth.
Finally a burlap sack, apparently full, was
seen. Chief Duckworth stepped down into
the trench with a pocketknife in his hand,
and slit the sack.
It contained the nude body of a woman,
which later developments proved to be
Mrs. Eicher. Chief Duckworth ordered that
an undertaker be called.
News of the finding of a body swept
quickly over Quiet Dell. On into Clarksburg
the story traveled. Scores of persons came
out by automobile and the officers had diffi-
rend keeping the crowd away from the
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AS oat the garage: went on
tion of State Police. The
out to be called off for the
spade of one struck an ob-
wrapped in burlap. The
ed from the ditch and the
F—to reveal the body of an-
| It was that of a
s firty years of age. She
sled. The marks of a rope
Sie on her neck.
mbulance carried the body
side those of the other four
arried the news of the find-
| body to Chief Duckworth
mm just as they were pre-
er Powers again. They took
ent é6f the new find to the
ent, outside the jail, there
g noise of a maddened mob.
e fifth murder had spread
an had the story of the find-
bodies. The crowd, num-
housand, had moved down
ll and was grouped about
ing out that man!” rang
ultitude as Powers heard
ictim had been found.
was in the cell with the
rs’ face paled. He trembled
his cell.
t,” he said. “It’s the body
Mrs. Eicher, from Park
women came here together.
er name.”
rom the crowd outside grew
ed, “Put me in a safe cell.”
ransferred him to a cell far
a
ed.
ve-— wo women and the
out w we garage one night
id. “It was late at night.
curious to go downstairs. I
I pushed the two women
and locked the door. Then
hildren into another room
t door.
women first. I can’t re-
-one of them went first. I
not with my hands; with B
ad to tie the hands of that
icher.
nd harder to quiet.
t into the room where the
en shoved. “The little girls
t on. “I tied the hands of
strangled them both. The
2¢,
he had intended having the
tness the lillines. but whon
ed he bashed him over the
immer anu a wrenen. Bon
a wrench, found at the gar-
testimony to this act of the
ded his story, the cries of the
e jail grew louder.
e law take its course,” he
the state hang him.” Afte
-erawd milled around for
‘tarted to move away and
1 restored.
then started a nationwide
She was larger than eo
But. it —
Finally *
faced the mob from the jail.
e.ddresses found among#
, in “*’ ‘velief that perhaps?
wi had been his vic
ind rroit a woman wh
eau prepared and who wa
irry Powers, when the wor
mail-order sweetheart wa
known him as Pierson.
AwY M“ehyD GstEd bial Add4dd dee UL
body, Mrs. Fleming, sister of Mrs. Lemke,
reached Clarksburg, summoned there by
police because there was no identification
of the body found to prove it was that of the
Massachusetts woman.
She was led into the morgue to gaze upon
the victims of the most modern “Bluebeard.”
A glance told her that the body was that
of the sister who she believed had gone to
Europe after her mail-order romance had
supposedly been shattered.
“My husband was right,” she said. ‘‘That
was not my sister’s writing in the letters
we received. He was simply trying to throw
us off the track, in case we searched for
her.”
Mrs. Fleming said she was confident
Powers had obtained from Mrs. Lemke
money, bonds and jewelry amounting to
about $15,000. A checkup on the bank in
Massachusetts where Mrs. Lemke did her
banking revealed the murder victim had
drawn more than $4,000 from the bank
before her departure with Powers, and had
taken about $8,000 worth of bonds from her
safe-deposit box. In addition, Mrs. Flem-
ing said, her sister had two diamond rings
and other jewelry worth about $3,000.
Chief Johnson of Park Ridge, and Chief
Duckworth of Clarksburg, sat at a table
in the latter’s office a few days after the
finding of the bodies. They had the ghastly
facts of the murder of five persons, a men-
tal picture of the death garage and the
subterranean “chamber of horrors.”
Piece by piece they put together the facts
they had uncovered, and coupled them with
what Powers had told them. When the pic-
ture had been assembled it was a reproduc-
tion of the case of the notorious Landru, the
“Bluebeard of France.”
Powers must have courted, by mail, a
number almost as great as did Landru.
What profit he might have obtained from
women whose pride kept them from com-
ing forward is problematical.
Powers had built his murder garage with
its underground cubicles for only one pur-
pose—to use it as a slaughter house for
human beings, women who fell into his
love traps and were lured into his clutches
by his promises of wealth, a life of ease,
a home and happiness, the police officials
concluded.
They believed that his program was just
getting under way when it was nipped as
the result of neighborhood curiosity in Park
Ridge which led Chief Johnson to institute
the search for the missing woman and her
three children; and that, had it not been for
this neighborhood curiosity, Powers might
have gone on with his ghastly scheme with-
out discovery for years—and his victims
might have been fifty or more, instead of
five.
When arrested, his bank account showed
more than $4,000—and he hadn’t worked a
day for months.
Given a speedy trial, Powers was found
guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The time
and place weré set for 9 o’clock on the eve-
ning of March] 18th, 1932, in the West Vir-
ginia State nitentiary death house at
Moundsville. |
In a interview with the Bluebeard
Romeo of Quiet Dell, the morning of his
execution day, the press found him—like
all killers of his type—still maintaining in-
nocence. That night forty witnesses saw
him pay with his life for the crimes against
his hapless victims.
A confession of guilt was later found to be
contained in a fifty-thousand word story of
his life, which he had written while incar-
cerated.
EpiTor’s Note
Two pictures of the killer, Harry F.
Powers, appear on pages 9 and 10.
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BLUEBEARD ON TRIAL
30
TRUE MAGAZINE, April, 1938,
U PPER left, the trial of Henry Landru, Bluebeard murderer of France, who married three hundred women fo take their lives
and their money. With him, in uniform, Is his lawyer, Giaffen. Below him, Georgette Henriot, murdered by
her husband. Above, Samuel Frank with photographs of a few of the 1300 fair admirers he claimed to have won. -
EET the Mail-Order Cupid . . . patron saint of
the love-starved . .. harbinger of hope for the
heart-sick . . . procurer number one for sex
perverts and mass murderers.
Meet a few of the Mail-Order Cupid’s employers.
It is February 23, 1929, and the wild-growing shrub and
brush flanking the Pawnee Road, near Cranford, New Jersey,
is covered with ice and snow. In the cold, eerie light of the
full moon Pawnee Road seems stark, sinister. A gaunt-faced
man, lank and stooped by the weight of the body he carries in
his arms, comes onto the road. His feet make crunching sounds
on the ice-packed ground. Twigs crack sharply atid branches
swish angrily as he drops the body in the brush at the side of
the road. -
Unhurriedly the man makes his way back to a car, parked
just off Pawnee and returns presently to the body ih the brush.
In his hand there is a curve-snouted kerosene can.
Carefully he pours the kerosene over the body. When the
last few drops drip from the can’s-snout, he strikes a match,
touches it to three sections of the tattered dress ori the corpse
and strides back, a little more hastily now, to his ¢ar. Before
the sound of his motor has died away, the body of the woman
is ablaze. Orange-yellow flame sways crazily skyward and the
hissing and roaring of the fire make it seem as thdugh a piece
of hell has burned through the earth.
%
MURDERESS
‘ Belle Gunness of LaPorte, Indiana, left
behind 19 men's corpses when she
vanished from her burning home.
a
was sex-mad, and a
mail-order bluebeards
True CASES OF MODERN MARRIAGE MONSTERS
SEX MAD BRIDE?
Joe Meluch said his bride, Dorothy Flowers,
drug eddict. He was
convicted of manslaughter just the same.
by JOSEPH CSIDA, Jr.
It was almost an hour later when the death pyre on Pawnee
road attracted the attention of motorists passing nearby. And
when they reached the spot, the body was nothing more than a
charred, smouldering heap in the snow. Investigators found
there was little left to aid in identification of the victim. But
when the charred remains had cooled, closer scrutiny revealed
that one of the woman’s shoes was especially consructed to fit
a minor deformity of her foot.
A search of the neighborhood towns was immediately insti-
tuted but no one knew of a woman with a slighly crippled foot.
A check-up with the Missing Persons Bureaus of states adjoin- {
ing New Jersey, however, brought quick word from the police
of Greenville, Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Mildred Mowbry of that town had worn a specially-
built shoe on her right foot. She had mysteriously disappeared
from her home five days before. And although there was no
evidence that she had not left voluntarily, police and postal
inspectors were checking correspondence she had had with a
number of men. She had apparently been put in touch with
BHMod
Coie
S
KIIE
*
sUby Soqtyum *
c
o£
P
*
6,
cr
these men through a social correspondence club, one of the<<j
numerous love-and-marriage-by-mail bureaus.
Further investigation showed that she had taken her life
sf
Po
savings, some four thousand dollars, with her upon leavingyQ
Greenville. This money was missing. Weeks of tedious de-
tective work dragged on.
A trail of letters, pitifully baring a lonely woman’s longing
for a mate, led first to one man, then another. Suspects were
MURDERED
Dorothy Flowers, found murdered in
her bedroom. Her husband gave him-
self up, was tried, and got 20 years.
ey
~~
a
,
was no longer interested in the two sailors.
You can turn them loose, so. far as I’m
concerned,” he said. “They don’t figure in
the murder.”
The deputy on the wire laughed. “We’ve
been trying to get in touch with you. We
managed to find that ranchhand who
tangled with the sailors. Not only was his
face a mess, but he backed up their story.”
The following day Blair learned that a
man and woman answering the descrip-
tions of Arlene Henry and the suspect
had been seen at 2:30 a.m. Monday stand-
ing on the Third Street Bridge. The wit-
ness said the woman ‘was wearing a leather
jacket over her shoulders, which just
about clinched the identification. The
Third Street Bridge was only a short dis-
tance from the murder scene.
But the suspect’s identity still was un-
known. On Wednesday morning Blair was
at his desk doing some paper work, when
a sergeant at another desk signaled him.
The sergeant was on the phone, and he
cupped his hand over the mouthpiece as
he spoke.
“Jack, it’s the bartender who gave you
the lead on the Henry killing,” he said. “He
wants to talk to you—says it’s very im-
portant.”
The call was switched to Blair’s phone.
“Go ahead,” the assistant chief said. “What
is it?”
“Well, I just remembered something
about that guy with Arlene Henry,” the
bartender said in an excited voice. “Don’t
know why I didn’t think of it when you
were in to talk to me. Anyway, I recall
he once said he works :for a company that
makes insulation for houses.”
“You’re sure of that?” Blair ‘said.
“Yeah, I’m-sure. Just can’t figure why I
didn’t remember it before.”
. Blair thanked him and hung up. There
was only one insulation firm in town—
checking the tip would be easy. Blair took
three officers with him to the small fac-
tory—Sergeant Orville Johnson, Patrol-
man Earl Randol and Patrolman Stanley
Johnson.
They took the foreman aside and de-
scribed the suspect. ;
“Sounds like the new fellow—Austin,”
the foreman said. “But he doesn’t seem
MEET MR. MORON Q. McSLOB
search. When they found nothing suspi--
cious there, they moved on to the garage,
jam-packed with furniture and luggage.
In a dresser drawer they found a shoe-
-. box full of letters. All of them were ad-:
dressed to Mrs. Eicher by various men in
different parts of the country. Some were
business-like, others ardent, but all of
them touched on the subject of marriage.
“I get it,” one of the officers said. “She’s _
been corresponding through one of those.
matrimonial bureaus.” .
.In the same drawer was another par
_ of ‘letters that had been given special.
“treatment, being tied with a silk ribbon, -
“These are all from Pierson!” Chief
_ Johnson exclaimed. “Now maybe we'll
* find something out about: the man./ ye
like the kind of guy who would do a thing
like that. You can talk to him for your-
self. He’s right over there.”
The foreman pointed to a man who was
sacking fibers. He was a tall man with dark
curly hair, dressed in Army suntans and
heavy Army shoes. Blair went over to him
and asked his name.
He turned around and looked at the
officer. “Frank Austin. Why?” He took out
a cigarette and lit it. Blair noticed he'd
used his left hand to strike the match.
“You lefthanded, Austin?” he asked.
“Yeah.” His voice was level and cold.
Blair asked him where he got his Army
discharge.
“In Utah,” Austin said, looking at the
three other officers.
Blair figured it was time to get down to
cases. “Did you know Arlene Henry?”
Austin didn’t as much as blink. “I’ve
seen her around—had a drink with her
once in a while.”
“I guess you’ll have to come with us,”
Blair said.
Austin shrugged as he ground out his
cigarette with a foot. He was escorted to
the police cruiser and put in the rear
seat. Blair asked him about his back-
ground, and he said he was 28, single, and
had spent four years in the Army. He was
a native of the Napa area, and since his
discharge in May had been living in a
furnished room in town.
“T guess we'd better have a look at your
room first,” Blair said.
“Okay with me,” Austin said icily.
His room, a small shabby affair, con-
tained a wealth of evidence. The officers
found a horse hide jacket, gray trousers, a
green and black sports shirt and a pair of
brown shoes—all bearing traces of blood,
grass stains and mud.
Questioned about them, he said: “Never
noticed those stains. Can’t figure out how
they got on my clothes.”
Blair asked him where he was Sunday
_night and early Monday morning.
“In bed, I guess. I took on a pretty
heavy load last Sunday, and last I remem-
ber I was in a bar at around 10 that night:
I musta blacked out after that. Woke up
in my bed the next morning and couldn’t
remember what happened in between.”
(Continued from page 29)
They ant down and began reading them.
No doubt about it—this Pierson person
was quite a hand at writing romantic
letters, and also at making himself out to
be a person of wealth.
_ “I am thankful that I have no financial
worries,” one of the missives read in part,
“because of my secure engineering posi-
tion, not to mention a couple of farms I
“own in Iowa and several other valuable
pieces of property in Missouri and Arkan-
sas. My wife would have her own car and
plenty of spending money. There would be
a servant to do the housework’ for her,
and she would have everything within‘
reason to make her happy. All I ask is
that she give me her devotion and be a
one-man’s woman.”
Austin was taken to the office of Dts
trict Attorney York for formal question-
ing, For several hours he maintained his
innucence, clinging to his blackout story.
As his nervousness increased, the district
attorney’s questioning became sharper.
Finally the D.A. snapped, “Let’s quit
the kidding, Austin. Come clean—you
killed her, didn’t you?”
Austin, who had acted remarkably cool
throughout, answered in a voice almost
devoid of emotion. “Okay, I did it. What
do. you want to know?”
York said he wanted the whole story,
and Austin lit a cigarette and went right
ahead. He said he had talked Arlene into
taking a walk with him after the Main
Street tavern closed. First he led her to the
Third Street bridge, then took her over to
the liquor warehouse and up to the bank
of the river. She began to resist. “I was
half carrying her,” he said.
He made advances, he confessed, and
she fought back.
“So I hit’ her with my left hand. I’m
lefthanded, you know. I hit her five or
six times, I guess. She was pretty hard to
knock out.”
She fell to the ground and he dragged
her down the rocky bank to the water’s
edie, where they were partially hidden by
the railroad trestle.
He tore her clothes off, ravished and
strangled her. He killed her, he said, “be-
cause she was making wheezing and
moaning noises that were driving me
nuts.” After taking some money from her
pocketbook, he threw it away on the way
home.
The cold, matter-of-fact confession
chilled the officers who heard it. York told
reporters: “I never heard anything like it.
He had no emotion whatever. It was as
if he- had gone into a chicken pen and
killed a pullet for dinner.”
Dark-haired Frank Austin was lodged
in ‘the Solano County jail and charged
with murder. He was given a prelimniary
hearing on October 24, 1955, and was tried .-
several months later. He offered no de-
fense in the slaying of Arlene Henry,
pleading. guilty to a charge of first-degree
murder. The judge thereupon sentenced
him to life in the state penitentiary.
oN
Ps
“Looks like Pierson married Mrs. Ei-
cher,” one of the investigators suggested.
“Maybe he did,” Johnson said, ‘ “and
then again, maybe he just promised to
marry her. If she had actually married
such a fine catch, why wouldn’t she let her
friends know about?”
They noticed that all of Pierson’s letters
gave his return address as a postoffice box
at Clarksburg, W. Va. Chief Johnson dis-
patched a long telegram to Police Chief
Clarence A. Duckworth at Clarksburg,
giving the details of the case in brief. and
asking an immediate check on Cornelius
O, Pierson. From Duckworth the following
day came this reply:
“NO SUCH PERSON AS PIERSON
LISTED HERE. BUT. WE: WILL IN-°
a pal oe ee
re en Dear tn
76
LEELA ENT SA STL EE NOTED ETERS TA LIT
VESTIGATE FURTHER AND ADVISE.”
N THE MEANTIME, up in North Ux-
bridge, Mass., jolly Dorothy Lemke had
had her meeting with the impressive Mr.
Pierson and was overjoyed. He had pro-
posed! She resigned her position and
waited breathlessly for him to come and
whisk her away into married life.
When Pierson arrived, she took him to
visit her sister, Mrs. Chester Fleming, at
Northboro, Mass. Pierson sat down in the
Fleming living room and talked enthu-
siastically. His work at a civil engineer
was dwindling because of the depression,
he said, but he had no worries.
“T have a good mind to take up active
agriculture at one of my farms in Iowa,”
he said. “Depression 6r not, people have
to eat. How would you like to be mis-
tress of my farm, my dear?”
“T know I’d love it,” Mrs. Lemke said
earnestly.
Next day, she and Pierson drove away
in gay spirits. Mrs. Fleming didn’t hear
from her sister for some time. She was
not particularly surprised, since the couple
had said they would honeymoon in the
West, but still there was no reason why
Dorothy couldn’t send a postcard now and
then.
Ten days later, Mrs. Fleming got a
letter from her sister that stunned her.
Postmarked in Uniontown, Pa., it read in
part:
“Hello, folks! I am feeling fine physi-
cally, but very disappointed over my mar-
riage adventure. We have completely
broken up. We had a disagreement, but I
guess it was my fault, as I have been
telling things that were not true and they
were found out. It made him very mad, so
I put a note in the car while he was not
there and simply walked away.
“It is perhaps all for the best, but I am
terribly ashamed of it all. I am going to
Chicago to try to find employment. I have
the name and address of a lady seeking a
woman companion, and I will write from
there.”
Mrs. Fleming couldn’t figure it out. She
had no idea what her sister had been tell-
ing that wasn’t true, unless it might b
that she had misrepresented her age to
Mr. Pierson. Yet Pierson had seemed per-
fectly happy about the match when he was
in Massachusetts.
A week later, on August 18, Mrs. Flem-
ing got another letter, this one postmarked
in Chicago. It related that Dorothy Lemke
had obtained the job mentioned and was
now the hired companion of an elderly
lady of considerable wealth. In fact, Mrs.
Lemke seemed quite well satisfied at the
way things had turned out, for she was
soon to leave with her employer on a
tour of the world.
“IT am glad now that I did not get
married,” the letter continued, “for I
would have missed this wonderful op-
portunity. I don’t think I will ever marry
now.
“Please don’t tell anyone of the dis-
astrous marriage plans. I feel so ashamed
that I do not believe I could ever face any-
one around there again. Don’t worry if
you do not hear from me for a long time
as it’s mighty difficult to write. I’m ter-
‘ribly busy getting ready for the voyage.
But J will try to find time to send you a
card once in a while. Best wishes and
love to all.”
Mrs. Fleming was so overjoyed at her
sister’s good fortune that she showed the
letter to her husband. He read it) and
agreed that it was indeed a lucky out-
come,
“Funny thing, though,” he said. “This
doesn’t look quite like Dorothy’s hand-
writing, does it?”
“Of course it does. I guess I ought to
know my own sister’s hand. Just think—
Dorothy going around the world, and
getting paid for it!”
UST ABOUT THIS same time, Chief
¥ Johnson out in Park Ridge had taken a
long chance. Although he knew he had no
legal proof against Pierson, he swore out
warrants charging the man with kid-
naping and manslaughter. He wired this
information to Chief Duckworth at Clarks-
burg, W. Va.
Duckworth assigned Detective Carl B.
Southern to get Pierson’s home address
from the local postoffice where he rented
the box. Southern learned from the post-
master that Pierson’s box was a busy one,
being filled daily with mail from all over
the country.
As the two conversed, a corpulent man
clad in summer suit and straw hat strode
in. Southern recognized him as Harry
Powers, a local vacuum cleaner salesman
with whom he had a nodding acquaintance.
“Morning, Powers,” Southern greeted
him. Powers replied amiably and went on.
He went on—and opened the very post
office box that Detective Southern had
been asking about! He pulled a big hand-
ful of mail from the box and was walking
away when Southern laid a hand on his
Shoulder.
“Just a minute, Powers. We want to
talk to you at headquarters.”
The fat man protested, saying he had
business that couldn’t wait, but it waited.
Southern wheeled him out to the waiting
police car and drove him to Chief Duck-
worth’s office.
The chief looked over some of the letters.
All were addressed in different feminine
hands to Mr. Corneilus O. Pierson. Duck-
worth eyed the suspect.
“Looks to me like Pierson and Powers
are one and the same,” he observed. “It’s
also evident that you have been carrying
on mail-order romances with a whole
slew of women.”
Powers shrugged. “It’s just a diversion
of mine. A-sort of hobby, you might say.”
“A hobby, eh? But look Powers. You're
already married. How could you take on
any more wives?”
“Oh, I don’t mean to do that,” the fat
man explained. “You see, these women
are just lonely, that’s all. What they want
is someone to write letters to, so I cor-
respond with some of ’em.”
Chief Duckworth knew Powers as a
drifter who had come to Clarksburg a
couple of years earlier from Iowa, where
he had failed in business of some kind. In
Clarksburg he had sold vacuum cleaners
from door to door while his wife operated
a small grocery store. The Powers couple
lived in quarters behind and above the
grocery.
“Perhaps you'll tell us,’ Duckworth
suggested, “what has become of Mrs.
Bicher and her children.”
Powers’ pale eyes widened. “Mrs. Eicher?
Why, I don’t know, exactly. When she
left me she said she was going to Chicago
with a man she met, a fellow named
Charles Rodgers. He’s from Pittsburgh, I
believe.” )
He clung to this story during consider-
able questioning, but was remarkably
vague about the circumstances of Mrs.
Kicher’s trip to visit him, and also about
the children. Also, he could not explain
why Mrs. Eicher had deeded him owner-
ship of her house in Park Ridge. Finally
he was placed in a cell while Duckworth
and Southern went to the combined gro-
cery and house.
L ERE THEY SPOKE with Mrs. Powers,
who seemed entirely puzzled about the
whole affair. She knew nothing whatever
about the letters her husband had been
receiving, she said, nor about a woman
named Asta Eicher. She said that her
husband traveled a lot, but she had no
knowledge of his business, being too oc-
cupied with the grocery.
Duckworth and Southern made a search
of the living quarters. In a traveling bag
owned by Powers they found a woman’s
dress and underthings, some children’s
clothing of different sizes, and a man’s old
sweater. All of these garments were.
stained with what appeared to be blood.
Mrs. Powers seemed astonished and said
she did not know where they came from.
The two officers questioned neighbors.
but none of them had seen anyone re-
sembling Mrs. Eicher and the children.
Inquiries at the railway depot were like-
wise fruitless.
“T think they came here by car,” Duck-
worth told Southern. “What's more, I think
they came in Powers’ car. But ‘they haven’t
heen seen around his house. Where could
he have taken them?”
One of Powers’ acquaintances remem-
hered something. “Three or four months
ago,” he said, “Harry built a shack or
flarage over near Quiet Dell. I never
could figure out why he built it there, so
far from where he lives.”
The two investigators drove to the ham-
Int of Quiet Dell, five miles away. They
found the garage to be a big, unpainted
structure of rough boards in a secluded
spot beyond the village. A man who lived
nearby came over and talked to them.
“Used to be a house there,” he said.
“Floyd Golden and his family lived there
for years, but they moved out last spring.
Isy cracky if the place didn’t burn down a
few days after they left.”
In April, not long after the mysterious
fire, Powers bought the property and a
couple of workmen erected the shack for
him over the cellar of the previous house.
Other householders in the vicinity said
the shack seemed to be little used
“A couple of times I came by here late
at night,” one of them recalled. “I saw
somebody- moving around inside—seemed
like they had a flashlight.”
Duckworth and Southern broke into the
building, There was no car in it, but at
one end was piled a jumble of luggage
and household articles. They opened a
him. }
Eicher
HE
tha
repeat:
gone «
clothing
inspecti:
Cg
EOE LENE TLL, LIT TS FTN IT
children into another room and locked
the door. This Lemke woman was big and
strong and hardest to keep quict, so I
killed her first. Then I strangled Mrs.
Kicher. After that I took care of the chil-
dren one by one. Young Harry Eicher gave
me some trouble, yelling and screaming,
so l finished him off with a hammer. It
was quite a job burying them all.”
The assembled officers stared at this
hideous creature in utter loathing. One
newspaper reporter, struck by the killer’s
sloppy appearance and seeming absence of
conscience, christened him “Mr. Moron Q.
go to New York on business in a fort-
night.”
“How strange!” she exclaimed.
“Strange? Why so?”
“Well—because I'm making a trip to
New York soon myself. Isn’t it a coinci-
dence!”
He agreed that it was a most happy
coincidence. They went to New York sep-
arately, but in the metropolis they enjoyed
several meetings, Genevieve being careful
to stay away from the bright spots where
she was too well known. If ever Paddleford
got so much as a hint of her purple past,
she well knew, her goose would be cooked.
They were married December 19, 1917,
at a splendid ceremony in Houston. There
was a honeymoon trip to the Bahamas,
and after they returned they set up house-
keeping in a mansion on Laurel Avenue
in Hollywood. The lady, although her hus-
band did not know it, was now Mrs.
Genevieve McKinney Toomey Paddleford.
Her adopted daughter was with them, now
a pretty little girl showing a great interest
in music.
It almost appears that Genevieve now
reached a realization that she had a good
thing and had better keep it. For a couple
of years she kept out of mischief (so far
as is known). Her daughter was taking
training as a singer and was showing great
promise. The beauteous mother was soon
a social leader in the film city, and the
entertainments at the Paddleford place
came to be famous.
But, sad to say, she was so constructed
that she could not hew to the line of strict
rectitude for very long. Propriety bored
her, and her interest in men was not at
all lessened by the fact that she was now
in her mid-thirties despite her claim to be
29,
There was a certain executive we shall
call Brown who was among the visitors
at their gatherings. Brown was handsome
and had a roving eye, but it didn’t rove
any longer when it lighted on Mrs. Paddle-
ford. Before long the pair were having a
secret affair. This excursion into sin
seemed to have the same effect on Gene-
vieve as when a drunkard after long
abstinence falls off the wagon. Men were
so delightful! Soon Brown was supplanted
by another, and another, and still another.
Eventually the gossips began to work on
this, and it was widely rumored that
MeSlob.” Possibly Powers was a slob, but
those officers who had talked with him
knew he was no moron,
Mrs. Fleming identified her sister’s body
at the morgue. Weeping, she said, “Here |]
thought Dorothy was enjoying a world
tour, and all the time she was lying out
there in that grave.”
Later she was brought in to confront
Powers. She stared at the flabby prisoner
with revulsion. “You--you killed my
sister,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Powers replied calmly. “J
did.”
DANGER! 10,000 VOLTS!
(Continued from page 22)
that gorgeous Mrs. Paddleford was no
better than she should be.
Dr. Paddleford, a busy man who had to
do much traveling, did not become aware
of this for a considerable time, but finally
he began to hear disturbing talk. Anothe:
thing that disturbed him was the enormous
bills his spouse ran up. True, he had
millions, but the way she was spending it
one would have thought he had billions.
At first he protested mildly about this,
but mild protests got nowhere. One day
late in 1921 he sat down and spoke very
sternly to her. Before he knew it she
was screeching imprecations at him and
scratching his face with long, sharp finger-
nails. She even seized a hammer and
chased him out of the room. He had never
seen such a tigerish rage. She finally
vented it by picking up an antique chai:
and smashing it against a $1000 mirror.
HIS UNHAPPY SCENE got Paddleford
to thinking. It struck him that after all
he knew very little about his wife’s back.
ground, so he began a quiet investigation
Before long he was in possession of infor-
mation about his wife’s notoriety in St.
Paul and New York that appalled him. He
sued for divorce. Among the complaints
he listed against her were (1) that she
had “inveigled” him into marriage; (2)
that she had wed him under a false name
to conceal her past; (3) that she was a
‘jailbird”; (4) that she had blackmailed
him and made him a “social outcast”; and
(5) that she had carried on scandalously
with a number of men.
“Look who’s talking!” Mrs. Paddleford
sniffed. “What I couldn’t tell about him!"
Very shortly she did tell. She countered
with a cross-complaint accusing the re-
spected Paddleford of the most incredible
kinds of misconduct. She even filed a
statement signed by her daughter in which
the girl said Paddleford had criminally as--
saulted her. This created a great furore
in the newspapers. The charge collapsed
entirely when the tearful teen-ager ad.
mitted that the oil man had never been
other than kind to her and that she hac
merely signed the paper at the urging of
her stepmother.
Mrs. Paddleford had to talk fast to get
out of a perjury charge on that. She fle«l
to New York, determined to cash in on
her husband’s wealth before he coul|
An hour later he saflered a chanpe of
heart. Through his attorney he denied any
knowledge of the crimes, repudiating his
confession and claiming it had been
forced from him.
He got his chance for a fair trial the
following winter. Accused of the murder
of five persons, he still claimed he was
innocent. A jury listened to his story, and
when it was over they said “Guilty.” On
March 18, 1932, Harry Powers got a taste
of his own medicine. He was hanged at the
state penitentiary at Moundsville. None of
the witnesses wept.
secure the divorce, which she knew he
would have no trouble in getting. The
orgy of spending she indulged in at mid-
town shops was the talk of the town. She
well knew Paddleford’s quiet nature and
dislike for notoriety, and she was counting
on this to aid her. She cashed in on some
of her purchases and sailed for England
with her daughter.
In London she frequented such posh
spots at Claridge’s and the Savoy, mean-
while running up huge bills in Paddle-
ford’s name at expensive West End shops.
In a fortnight’s time she had affairs with
several incautious Britons, and was mak-
ing hay with a wealthy candy tycoon when
the blow fell. It came in the form of a
cable from Dr. Paddleford saying that he
was not responsible for bills incurred by
his estranged wife and that any use of his
name by her was unauthorized.
Genevieve got out of London just a
couple of jumps ahead of Scotland Yard
and headed for Rome. Here she easily con-
vinced shopkeepers and she was the wife
of the big American oilman, Paddleford,
and she ran up more bills in his name.
She got out of town with her daughter in
time to avoid the deluge. Next stop, Venice.
Here, on March 28, 1922, a warrant was is-
sued for her arrest on a charge that she
had run up 60,0000 lira in bills on a non-
existent credit. By the time the law came
to nab her, she was on her way to Lucerne,
Switzerland, one of the beauty spots of
Europe.
In all of her travels the impulsive siren
lived like a princess, staying at suites in
the most expensive hotels, buying the
finery which she craved, attending dances
and entertainments of the international set
at which she met ambassadors and minis-
ters, generals and magnates. She was past
master at the art of putting on a front, and
this together with her beauty won her
easy credit everywhere. She spent thou-
sands upon thousands, without ever hav-
ing a cent of her own. Amazingly, she was
still charging many of her bills to the long-
suffering Dr. Paddleford.
By this time she had discovered that
this deception could only last for a limited
period. She developed almost a sixth sense
that enabled her to clear out before the
constabulary arrived, and by the time the
law looked for her in Lucerne she was
nicely installed in Vienna.
ian i i i UE SNR EEE I EER
ick-
ink
en’t
suld
em-
aths
or
ever
2, SO
am-
Chey
nted
ided
ived
said.
here
ring.
wn a
rious
Fad a
x for
ouse.
said
» late
saw
‘med
o the
ut at
e
a
good-sized trunk. It was crammed with
feminine clothing and other belongings.
One of the items in it was a portait of a
man in wrestling garb. Across it was
signed the name “Henri Eicher.”
“Mrs. Eicher’s late husband,” Duckworth
nodded. “I understand he was an amateur
wrestler. And here are several medals, all
of them won by Eicher at various com-
petitions.”
It proved at any rate that Powers had
possession of many of the Eicher belong -
ings. A man’s suitcase was next opened to
reveal a mass of hundreds of letters. The
investigators set it aside to scrutinize
later. Further search of the shack turne:l
up little of interest, and they returned to
Clarksburg, where they began a_ pain.
staking examination of the letters. It toolc
them several hours, but at the end of that
time they had learned several things about
Harry Powers.
He had started his racket some seven
years earlier, and had corresponded with
more than 400 women during that time, all
of them through the medium of several
lonely hearts clubs. There were copies of
several form letters which Powers sent
out. One was intended for the first reply
to any woman who queried him, while
others carried on the romance in greater
detail. It was clear that in order to carry
on simultaneous affairs with many differ-
ent women, Powers had sent out identical
letters to them.
In them he always described himself as
a wealthy civil engineer with a juicy in-
come from several valuable porperties. He
owned farms, oil wells, stocks and bonds
He was handsome, intelligent, and on top
of that was loyal and devoted. One.of his
ads in a correspondence club magazine
described him as “Wealthy Widower
Worth $150,000. Is a civil engineer, very
fine-looking man of 38 with income rang-
ing from $600 to $3000 per month.”
“What a scoundrel!” Duckworth grated.
“It’s my opinion that for years he has been
defrauding many of these women out of
their furnishings and other property on
his promise to marry.”
“He’d get them to hand over their stuff,
then skip out,” Southern nodded. “Most of
them would be too ashamed: to squawk,
and even if they did they couldn’t find
him. But the question is—where are the
Eichers?”
"PHEY CONFRONTED Powers’ about
that once more, but got nowhere. He
repeated his story that Mrs. Eicher had
gone off with the man from Pittsburgh.
Why were her belongings in his shack?
“She asked me to keep some things for
her and send them on when she wrote,”
he said. “I’m merely storing them for her
until I hear from her.”
“Why did you build that shack way out
there in the country?” the chief demanded.
“Nothing wrong about that. I just
wanted a place where I could work with-
out being disturbed.”
“Work? What kind of work?”
“Why, my engineering work, of course.
I'm busy at a couple of inventions and
other projects.”
He denied any knowledge of the bloody
clothing found in his suitease at home. An
inspection of these items failed to turn up
any identifying mark on them to connect'
them positively with the Eichers, Duck-
worth and his men were now convinced,
that the Eichers were dead, but they had
to find at least one body to prove any sort
of case against the pudgy suspect. By now
it was night, and they decided to make a
thorough search of the shack on the
morrow.
“It he’s an engineer, I’m a Chinaman,”
the chief growled. “It’s my opinion he
built that place out there solely to hide
his loot and also possibly evidence of
greater crimes.”
In the morning, a good part of the
Clarksburg police foree went out to the
shack at Quiet Dell. Pushing aside a
crate of furniture, they found a trapdoor
in the floor. Opening it, they went
down a crude stairway into the cellar, It
was the original basement of the house
that had been there before, but a good
deal of work had evidently been done on
it. It was divided into three underground
rooms, one of which contained a toilet.
“He sure wanted all the comforts of
home,” Detective Southern muttered,
Officers were busy examining the floor
and tapping the tile masonry walls. If
there were bodies hidden, it would seem
that this would be the place to hide them.
Extensive search, however, failed to find
anything out-of-the-way at all.
Meanwhile, Chief Duckworth was on an
errand of his own. He well knew if noth-
ing were found, Powers would soon have
to be released—a thought that chilled him,
for in his opinion the fat vacuum cleaner
salesman was one of the greatest villains
unhung.
He looked up one of the workmen who
had built the shack for Powers, “There
warn’t any plans for the job,” the man
said. “We just did some alterations in the
cellar and put up the shack like he told
us to. I remember he was pretty insistent
about a sewer—wanted a good sewer line
out to the creek.”
Since he had helped build them the man
could affirm that the cellar floor and walls
were solid and contained no hollow places
or secret chambers. Duckworth returned
to the shack. He could easily trace the trail
of the sewer as it left the structure on its
way to the creek some 100 feet distant,
for the recently-dug earth was still visible.
In fact, he reasoned, it would be a logical
place for a killer to bury his victims be-
cause no one would be surprised or sus-
picious at finding the ground dug there.
The chief got a half-dozen men working
with shovels along the line of the sewer.
They started shortly after noon. It was
nearing 2 o’clock when one of the men
struck fabric with his shovel. They worked
carefully around the spot and soon un-
covered a huge sack made of burlap.
Chief Duckworth slit open the sack with
a knife. It contained the nude decomposed
body of a dark-haired woman of slight
build.
“Mrs. Eicher,” he said grimly. “Keep on
digging.”
W ITHIN ANOTHER HOUR three more
bodies were uncovered, all of them of
children of varying sizes. Undoubtedly
they were all that was left of Greta, Harry
and Annabel Eicher. As the morgue wagon
a
prepared to take the corpses away, an
angry muttering arose among the scores
of onlookers who had gathered.
“Let's get that Powers feller and give
him some of his own kind of medicine!”
Duckworth and his men hurried back to
headquarters, where a strong guard was
immediately posted at all entrances. Pow-
ers was brought in to the chief’s office,
where Duckworth, Southern and the
county attorney were waiting for him.
“Well, Powers,” the chief snapped, “you
might as well talk. We found the bodies.”
“What bodies?” the fat man inquired.
“The bodies of the four people you
murdered—Mrs. Eicher and her three
children!”
“So help me,” Powers said, “I don’t
know what you're talking about. Like I
said, Mrs. Eicher left with that man from
Pittsburgh and her children were with
her.”
He clung to this story for hours. Even
when the glaring inconsistencies of his
story were pointed out to him, he refused
to budge. At last he subsided into sullen
silence, refusing to talk.
But they kept at him. As evening came,
then night, the questioners spelled each
other, going over the ground, asking ques-
tions, firing accusations.
“I didn’t do it,” he gasped. “I know noth-
ing about it.” .
The morning papers carried big head-
lines about the case against the accused
Bluebeard, and the news services flashed
it all around the country. Up in Northboro,
Mass., Mr. and Mrs. Chester Fleming got
a shock when they looked at their morn-
ing paper. Staring at them from the front
page was a photograph of the pudgy, pop-
eyed man who had taken Mrs. Lemke
away—the man they knew as Cornelius
O. Pierson. The news story told a good
deal about how Powers, alias Pierson, had
been swindling women for years and had
capped his crimes with quadruple murder.
Fleming’s face was grave. “I didn’t think
the handwriting in those letters was
really Dorothy’s,” he said. “I wonder—I
wonder if something like this has hap-
pened to her.”
They sent a telegram to Clarksburg
telling the facts in the disappearance of
Dorothy Pressler Lemke. Then Mrs. Flem-
ing boarded the first train for Clarksburg.
AROUND 10 THAT MORNING in the
“West Virginia city, Harry Powers ab-
ruptly collapsed. “All right,” he moaned,
“I did it. Pll tell you how it happened.”
A stenographer was called. Powers
dictated a confession in which he did not
go into details but admitted the murder of
Asta Eicher and her three children “by
using a hammer and_ strangulation.”
By this time, state troopers and work-
men were continuing the digging along
the sewer line. At length they uncovered
the body of a large, plump woman—un-.-
doubtedly Mrs. Lemke. The digging was
kept up until the entire line was exposed,
but no further bodies were found.
Powers readily confessed to the murder
of Mrs. Lemke, disclosing that he had
slain her and the Eicher quartet at the
same time.
“I locked both women in one of the
cellar rooms,” he said, “and I shoved the
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Lowe didn’t answer that question,
but asked one himself. “But didn’t Mr.
Conner have a great deal of influence
on the boy?”
“Not on your life!” Mrs. Cooke said
flatly. “He hated Mr. Conner like poi-
son. He wasn’t grateful for anything.
Why, he even was terribly mad at Mr.
Thames for sending him to us—and
after all Mr. Thames did for that boy!”
A puzzled frown crossed the sher-
iff’s face. It seemed incredible that a
outh with any mind of his own would
eave Windsor Heights for an Ohio
steel city strictly on the urging of
someone he disliked. Perhaps the
hotel money had served as a bribe to
get him to leave West Virginia. But,
in that case, why had Conner found
it necessary to bribe Pratz in order to
get the youth out of town?
Lowe promptly called the prosecu-
tor and asked him to instigate a search
for Frank Pratz, starting with the
Youngstown hotel. Then the sheriff
himself started for the mine that em- |
ployed Conner.
WEN Lowe outlined his reasons
for taking him out of the mine,
Conner began talking immediately.
He exclaimed: “Why, you’re running
a noose around my neck—for nothing!
Believe me, sheriff, I didn’t kill any-
3 want to remind you,” the sheriff
said grimly, “that much of this comes
as the result of your not being en-
tirely frank with me. If you had noth-
ing to do with Thames’-death, your
best defense is the truth.”
Conner mopped his brow. “All right
—here’s the truth. I did have intima-
cies—as you put it—with Pearl
Thames. To this very day, I admit I’m
in love with her. She cut me off—
just like that!” He snapped his fin-
ers. “Just like that, sheriff. I thought
ra while that time would help me
forget—but it didn’t. I still love her,
but she won’t have a thing to do with
me.
“And,” Lowe added significantly,
ee you were jealous of her hus-
Conner shook his head . “No, it
wasn’t Lou. She just wouldn’t have
me any more.”
“Any reason?”
“If there was a reason I’d feel bet-
ter, but there’s none. Absolutely none!
It just seems that ever since that kid
came into the house, she’s had no truck
with me at all.”
“That kid?”
“Frank—Frank Pratz.”
“So you blamed Pratz for it?”
“I don’t know who to blame. I just
know that, deep down, I didn’t like
the kid. I admit I don’t have any real
reason for not liking him—except
maybe because it was when he came
to the Thames place that Pearl stopped
going with me.”
This was a different Conner from
the one who had spoken with Lowe
shortly after the murder. This man
was in earnest, the sheriff was con-
vinced. But his story still sounded
fantastic. Why, for instance, had he
made such a point of getting Pratz out
of town?
Conner answered that ina straight-
forward manner. “I wanted him to
get a job up in Youngstown—to get
him out of Windsor Heights, out of
West Virginia completely, if possible.
I thought maybe I could get back with
Pearl if he was out of the way.”
Meanwhile, apparently intent upon
clearing his name once and for all,
SLIT ERLE EOE ET OI CIO COE GT TIE
Conner insisted upon riding back to
his own home with the sheriff. There
he repeated his story about having
slept through the shooting and the.
screams. :
Mrs. Cooke confirmed every detail.
“I heard them,” she said, “and I went.
in to wake up Mr. Conner, but by the
time I got to his room it had all
—.
“Then,” Lowe wanted to «now,
“how did you know Mr. Coraer was
sleeping?”
“Because I opened the door. His
face was to the light, and I knew it
was him. Besides,” Mrs. Cooke added,
“I was up until you came. And I know
that Mr. Conner didn’t leave the
house.”
The alibi all but exploded any case
Lowe might have developed against
Conner. Disturbed about spending
valuable time pursuing a red-herring
trail, he returned to headquarters and
related the story to Mahan.
_ The prosecutor listened closely, then
invited Lowe to sit down. “It may
not exactly be a false trail,” Mahan
said meaningfully. “I’ve got a partial
report from Youngstown. The police
up there are still looking for Pratz.”
“What! Did you check the hotel?”
“He isn’t there. Never was.”
- “The foreman? The company Con-
ner sent him to?”
Mahan shook his head. “No, they
never heard of him. The foreman
knows Conner, but he says he never
met Frank Pratz.” The prosecutor
paused, then added: “That means Con-
ner’s right back in the picture. He
probably lied to you.”
“No,” the sheriff insisted, “I don’t
think he did. As far as he knows,’
Pratz went to Youngstown. Conner
couldn’t have sent himself the tele-
gram—and he had no good reason for
faking one.”
“Then what’s your theory, Sheriff?”
“Well, evidently: Pratz had some
reasons for wanting people to think
he was in Youngstown—or, at least, at
a hotel in Youngstown.”
Mahan nodded. “Okay—rul follow
through in trying to locate Pratz.
Meanwhile, I suppose you'll want to
have another talk with Pearl Thames.”
RS. THAMES, becomingly dressed
. in black, greeted the sheriff with
a faint smile. “I hope you've made
some progress,” she said.
_ As Lowe repeated the story of his
investigation to that point, the color
slowly drained from Pearl Thames’
face. Her body stiffened visibly as
the sheriff told what he had discov-
ered concerning her clandestine rela-
tions with Pete Conner.
“Well,” she said finally, “it’s true.
I'm awfully sorry you found out about
it; I really am. I’m very much ashamed
of that affair with Pete—and it doesn’t
help much to be reminded about it at
atime like this.”
“Mr. Conner,” the sheriff said even-
ly, “seems to have been pursuing you
ever since you dropped him.”
Mrs. Thames set her lips in*a thin
“ere line. “He told you that, too?”
“Yes.”
_ “Did he tell you I won't have him
if he were the last man on earth? Did
he tell you how he tried to take Frank
away from me?”
Lowe started to comment, then
checked himself. He was interested
in learning what Mrs. Thames had to
say about Frank Pratz.
Pearl Thames waved her hand in a
gesture of disgust. “Pete Conner is
us of Frank that he can’t see
Just take what he tells you
with a grain of salt.”
-“And,” the sheriff prompted,
he have any reason for being jealous
of Frank Pratz?”
“Why do you :
Lowe studied the confusion in the
woman’s face. There was no mistak-
ing the deep flush which suffused her was there at any
fore eight o'clock when he sent a wire
es forced a smile. “Then
lock,” the sheriff re-
uld easily have been
t eleven. Or even earlier.
It’s less than sixt
Mrs. Thames’ lips opened as if she
eak; then they closed
soundlessly. A long period of silence
followed, finally broken by Pearl
Thames. “Frank didn’t kill Lou,” she
‘Mrs. Thames, were you ever inti-
mate with Frank Pratz?”
The woman stared absently, open-
mouthed, for a long second—then she
turned d started to weep.
“Tt’s a lie! Pete Conner told you that.
And it’s nothing but a pack of lies!"*\
Sheriff Lowe got to his feet. “No,
Mrs. Thames, it wasn’t Pete Conner
It was you—and I don’t
bed ate her eyes
he was there.”
“At eight o’c
were about to
think it was a lie.”
Pearl Thames dab
with a lacy handkerchief, then turned
again to face the . u
don’t understand,” she said, her voice
filled with self-pity. “I’m just thirty-
five. I married Lou when I was fif-
teen, and he was nine years older. I
had a child one year later. Lou soon
tired of me. He just sat around and
smoked his pipe while. . - °
Lowe nodded once, slow:
for her to continue.
I was hungry.for someone to
love me. Can you wnderstand?”
sheriff stared in amazement at
the trembling woman before him.
could understand. Here was
f fantastic intensity. It ex-
tself in the quivering body
fired with the mixed emo-
tions of fear and shame.
“You felt you couldn
headquarters.
without Frank Pratz. Isn't that it?”
asked. :
“I love him,” Mrs. Thames replied.
“And did you see him on the night
and was murdered?”
Frank was in Youngstown.”
“That seems to be
miles from here.”
“Are you sure of that?” E
As if encouraged by an opportunity
to reassure the authorities that her
innocent, Mrs. Thames
leaned towards the sheriff and began
speaking rapidly, gesturing with her
hands for emphasis. “The murderer
er than Frank, maybe
four or five inches taller. He wore a
hat—and Frank never wears a hat.
He— f
But Lowe was no longer listening.
When Mrs. Thames finished speaking,
and leafed briefly through
let, quickly examined one
significant page, then started back to
hours after her hus-
death, Pearl Thames had in-
sisted that she had not seen his killer!
HE search for Frank Pratzs was.
intensified. Lowe and Mahan
agreed that the greatest concentration
should be placed on the area around
Windsor Heights. If Pratz was the
killer, they reasoned, he would surely
return to claim Pearl Thames—the
probable reason for his crime.
Early Saturday morning the sher-
iff’s office got its first real break. A
retired miner, on his way home from
a fishing trip, came upon the stock of
a 12-gauge shotgun in a dried-out
creek bed.
A search of the same area—less than
two miles out of Wellsburg—failed to
produce the metal ayo of the gun
which apparently
tled. But it took little time for labor-
atory technicians to examine the wood
and to determine that it contained a
wealth of fingerprints.
d been disman-
The prints were filed in the court-
house while a laboratory expert stood
by and waited for a chance to mateh
them with those of Frank Pratz. -
Meanwhile the sheriff and the pros-
ecutor waited patiently and confi-
dently for the youth to put in an
appearance. They did not have long
to wait now.
Early Sunday afternoon, the stocky.
blue-eyed, blond, round-faced lover
of Pearl Thames—filthy, his clothes
torn—was seen emerging from the
wooded area behind the Thames cot-
tage. A deputy watched alertly as the.
man made a dash across the clearing
towards the rear entrance to the cot-
tage.
What followed was routine police
work. Pratz immediately admitted his
identity, and surrendered without re-
sistance to the sheriff's deputy. Ob-
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| for two weeks. He and Pedtf were |
' You could see her and Mr. Conner just
| house in the morning before Mr. Con-
| ner went to work.”
| for sure about that. All I know is that
| just about a year later Mr. Thames
| walked into a store in Wellsburg and
=
asked Lowe: “Have you been to see
Pete Conner yet?” .
But when Lowe asked why Conner’s
name had been brought into it, the
woman began to hedge. -“Nothing,”
she said evasively. “Just that Pete
and Pearl were—well, pretty close,
and I figured he could tell you more
than most of us.”
_“You say they were pretty close?
And Mrs, Thames’ husband?”
“I don’t think he cared much for
Pete.”
She wouldn’t elaborate. Further
questioning by Lowe produced only a
series of invitations to “go’over and
see Pete.”
However as the sheriff started to
leave, the housewife made a
nervous statement: “Pete Conner isn’t
the kind of man who would do a thing
like—well, like killing anybody.”
This appeared to be the consensus
among the neighbors. All seemed cer-
tain that Conner was the prime sus-
pect, yet all maintained he was in-
capabie of murder. “He just isn’t built
that way,” one miner said. And that
was as close as anyone came to an
expianation.
However, on the matter of Conner’s
relationship with Pearl Thames, there
was evidently less reluctance to talk.
“That was the biggest trouble with
Mr. Conner,” one woman told the
sheriff. “He just couldn't seem to
leave Pearl alone. Otherwise he was
as nice a fellow as you'd find.”
“Is there any reason,” the sheriff
asked, “for anyone to say that he and
Mrs. Thames were ever intimate?”
The woman nodded, replied quietly,
“Yes sir, I’m afraid there is.” Then,
with obvious reluctance, she. began
talking about “the time back in 1930
when Lou Thames was out of town |
together practically every minute.
as plain as day—walking up to his
house at night and going back to her
Lowe nodded. “That was six years
ago. What about the time since then?”
The woman shrugged. “I can’t say
made the clerk take back a silk night-
gown with lace on it.”
“That wouldn’t necessarily have
anything to do with Mr. Conner,
would it?” Lowe asked.
“Mr. Conner,” the woman said soft-
ly, “was the one who bought the night-
gown in the first place.”
| Ppp was. inclined to regard the
At nightgown story as the product of
someone’s fantastic imagination—but
it seemed to be pretty generally known
by people close to the Thames family.
That the story was not a fabrication,
SELLE LL AE SR ORL IOI TOT NCO A OIG TT OE
however, became apparent when the
sheriff, on his way back to his own
headquarters, stopped to talk with the
clerk who was said to have taken part
in the transaction. “Yes,” the clerk
said, “it’s true. I remember kidding
Pete about buying silk stuff for ladies,
and he didn’t seem to take to the kid-
ding much. Acted like he felt I ought
to mind my own business—so I did.
But when Lou Thames stormed in here
and returned the same gown—well,
you could have knocked me over with
a feather.” i
Back at headquarters Lowe related |
the story to Prosecutor Walter Mahan.
A powerfully built man who had won |!
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All-America honors as a member of
* the West Virginia University football
team, Mahan listened closely, then
shook his head. “T’ll admit it sounds
odd,” he said slowly, “but you’ve got
~nothing definite to link Conner with
what happened to Lou es.”
“You’re quite right,” Lowe con-
eéded. “Bur it-te’s pieces that I in-
tend “o fit together before I give up
on kum. First, it’s hard to believe that
~ business of his having slept through
all the commotion. Half the town was
awakened—and there’s plenty of
sound sleepers among them who live
farther from the Thames place than
Pete Conner does.”
Mahan smiled. “Is that all?” .
The sheriff shook his head. “No.
Conner lied to me. He told me that
he had never had intimacies with Mrs.
Thomas. Well, later I learn that he
not only was—or probably was—inti-
mate with her, but that Louis Thamés
knew about it, and, to put it mildly,
he was displeased.”
- Mahan nodded. “I see what you're
getting at. It points to something—
but I'd hate to go into a courtroom
with nothing more than that ta build
a case on.” :
“When you go into the courtroom,”
Lowe said determinedly, “you'll have
more than that to go on.”
-Lowe promptly returned to Windsor
Heights and the home of Pete Conner.
Here he learned from the house-
keeper, Mrs. Cooke, that Conner was
at work in the mine. “He'll be back
tonight,” she said, “unless he goes out
with one of his girl-friends.” .
“Do you know any of his girl-
_ friends?” Lowe asked.
The woman shook her head. “Not
‘their names. Mr. Conner never in-
troduces me to them.”
The sheriff frowned. “How could
you even expect to be introduced to
them, unless he brings them into the
house.” :
“Yes,” Mrs. Cooke said cautiously,
“he does bring them home sometimes.”
“Did he ever bring Mrs. Thames
home?”
“Yes—but that was a long time ago.”
“How long ago?” E
“Oh, four or five years ago.”
“Since Mr. Thames took back that
lace nightgown?” |
The housekeeper nodded. “I...1I
think so.” She leaned forward, her
eyes troubled as she added seriously:
“Mr. Conner is a good man. He’s got
a pretty bad temper and it flares up
sometimes—like yesterday when he
drove Frank away from here—but I
don’t think, in fact, !'m certain—”
“Just a minute,” Lowe interrupted.
“You say he drove Frank away. Do
you mean Frank Pratz?”
“Yes—Mr. Thames’ boy; the one that
lived with him, that is.”
“I see.” Sheriff Lowe studied the
woman intently. “And exactly what
did you mean about Conner’s driving
him away?”
Mrs. Cooke explained that she had
heard an argument between the two
around, noon the previous day. “Frank
kept saying he didn’t want to go to
Youngstown, because he wanted to
stay around Windsor Heights and
work at the mines. Mr. Conner kept
telling him he was ungrateful—and
should take any job that was offered
to him instead of sponging on Louis
Thames all the time.”
Mrs. Cooke, |
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Here's a Profitable |! thal and Eiland could obtain from the
BUSINESS FREE man. He stuck stubbornly to his story.
~ Robinson was indicted by the Mont-
gomery County grand jury and he
went to trial charged with murder in
the first degree— i
Montgomery County Solicitor Tem-
ple Seibels gave fire and he drew fire.
The defense fought back bitterly.
Seibels had ordered the portable type-
writer returned from Eilbott’s rela-
JOBS! | viously crushed, his spirit broken, he
| made the trip without handcuffs to
RAILWAY ; the sheriff's office in Wellsburg. d
| . Quietly, he submitted to an exam- “Thank you”—and then cast a last_
ination of his fingerprints. And just glance in the direction of Pearl
as quietly he listened as the sheriff Thames, a glance expressive of hatred
told him that the prints matched per- and supreme contempt. =
fectly with those on the gun stock. -On November 15, 1936, Pratz went.
Asked whether he had ever seen the to his death at the State Penitentiary ~
part before, he replied in a in Moun sville.
1950 GOVERNMENT
scarcely audible tone: “Yes—I killed In th. meantime, Pearl Thames put , "
Lou with it.” Then, after a long up a sustained fight for her own hfe. BOOKLETS - —> sought i ee Se = jury
and other | Pause he added: “Me and Pearl—we Her main defense lay in the insistence : inson, with robbery the mo-
: ‘ Pg that, although she had “been a fool for pe sind gers roe ibe. each oe sh Sars ees | | tive, had beaten his employer brutally
- = Civil Service : < ‘ not appreciating a fine man like Lou,” Sod is full of fun’ and entertainment, 1% of these joke in the head with the ll machine. \
ae "Positions | FYEARL THAMES violently denied she, had actually had nothing to do seed Sty gees Me teens: | | oe, "itan's head spemetions on |
aie “ that she had had anything to do with the murder. Ste ae a € cor th ts iter .: Regis |
Start as high as with the murder. ‘That she had hoped Upon advice of her attorneys she TREASURE NOVELTY CO., Dept. 11-8 | | CO™ETS Of the Hype the measurements |
or her husband’s death, she admitted asked for a change of venue in order q 28 Casper Station, New York 3, N.Y. i form of the lacerations and tt aes ten
of the typewriter were identical.
But Solicitor Seibels felt that his
arguments were not sticking. Convic-
. readily, but she refused to admit any to escape the prejudice which had
$3 3 51 A YEAR responsibility. for his violent end. been built around her in her own lo-
. : “Yes,” she admitted, “I felt glad for a cality. Mahan and Judge O’Brien,
(Veterans Get Special Preterence) second—just when I saw him godown. aware that selecting twelve people , ck
Get Ready Now for 1950 Examinations oe I xeplized that bag sero frm ea 4 County _ ag not yet pag, sensed, was slipping from the |
Mail Carriers, Post Office Clerks ~ im, ani was scar idn’t made up eir min on e case . ‘ |
oa — now gut $2,500 the first want Lou to be murdered.” ‘would be next to impossible, con- Defense counsel demanded that he
‘of regular employment and automat- _She was to change her story many sented to the change. ze - prove that this particular typewriter
Ically Sncrease $100 a year to $3,550. Open to | times after that. In a dramatic mo- Tried in Wheeling, Mrs. Thames fi- was the actual murder weapon!
sally increase 3 to 50. Clerks and Carriers | ment, just before Pratz went to trial, nally proved to the satisfaction of the h How — he ponte ot go gel
eard of a man being with a
can be promoted to other postal positions | -he maintained that the youth actually jury that, technically at least, she was _*
typewri z
paying as high as $7,550.00. : .
y : threatened to kill her, too, and added: net guilty of murder. - v ;
ee eT byes ae ian ot “That’s why I was afraid to say any- Freed, she returned only briefly to Seibels charged upon Robinson, on
pe 5 A gl oyment, being ald rst | thing. I was afraid to die! Frank the haunted cottage. Neighbors say the stand and said: “You did not use |
year, of Tegular employmscl’ month. (11460 | would have killed me, I know it!” she aged after that with astonishing that hand towel to wipe blood from |
the injured man’s face! You did not |
each. pay day.) Their pay is automatically Obviously enraged because his rapidity. Soon after, Pearl Thames—
ere nas Hy to $3.80 and $4,080 in large sweetheart refused to stand by him, lonely, perhaps palsied with the vio-
Male Veterans only. | Pratz bitterly denounced her as “just lent attacks of her own conscience—
as guilty as me.” At the trial that fol- died in the home her hus' had
lowed early in June, he cried.out: “If made for her. - -
I got to hang, then she’s got to die :
also!” — : ,Eprror’s Note: To protect the iden-
The jury determined one thing at tities of persons who had no part in
least—that Pratz himself. was guilty the murder of Louis Thames, the
of first-degree murder and not worthy names “Pete Conner” and “Mrs.
of mercy. : Cooke”—as used in the foregoing true
Judge J. J. P. O’Brien promptly story—are fictitious. :
beat him repeatedly in the head with |
this. eeweiier vett your neg vor
victim was near death or actually J
—and then you used that towel to: po 4 eackes
wipe the blood off this typewriter.! away. Waist
You wiped it clean. Then you fas- | jineevened out.
tened it back in its case, stuffed that | Cjothes look
towel under the mattress. Then you: and feel swell.
BS | *icnineon winced. His fect shuttiea: | SOSKE Fesr®
unseat insert nie | His Gngers crocheted a distorted pat) YU"EST
: q is legs crossed and r
saat coins, wal we ore RE eS Seibels went on relentlessly: }
touch Mr. Eilbott with a towel. You |
‘ F : : : send 10 cents for New 24 page Illustrated “No one thought to take that type- _
KEYS TO DEATH == — Caters een te ee ee —; | writer out of its case and examine it
- = when it was found in the dead man’s
room. Not until*this trial began. But
you killed him, Robinson! You killed
JET PER
Continued from page 43 FO
: ‘i oa a your employer with this typewriter! |
Shit eives force plebeso soe mmo : = Didnt | your 7 eA atic
Robinson had not been short on happen to be the identification cards, ag , of course, couldn’t expect |
Pil out, the money. No, he had not been wearing calling cards, courtesy, cards and so = ne os; a oe erre S aet — a TRIAL OFFER!
jay — at once. ; j j bearin. money or -0.D. 4 ense ging
= diamond ing of any size, One of Ge ag iene Fr A ag ile or a screaming objection. Seibels had won FIRM SUPPORT* ont ines: ee ice
11424 Biona Dr.. Dept. #-2-. [2 point, he felt—but still he had to | sant et your own eyes. Try
VAPOJET MFG. CO. ‘te ittice Se. calit. prove beyond any question of doubt— Tracing tne HLL BELLY-FLATTENER at
since he had declared the victim met | PIAS ARGS cress fot Gelghtea Sane cae
DE * IVE RAINING his death from blows under a type- . abdemen as~xhown ant immediate results, re-
i : : | <= up and in. Feel
writer—tha h iT = | we, - vl turn in 10 days for im-
| Cl I it that this particular type good? That's how you'll 2 ys f .
jntushough not government controtieg. this can result | the girls recalled that while they were Garland G. Eilbott.” :
- - in front of the Cotton Club, one of the Reginald Eilbott, brother of the
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, Dept. 2-108, Rechester 4, N. Y- carnival attractions, Robinson had dead man, swore out a warrant on
Rush to me. entirely free of charge (1) a full deserip- | said suddenly: “Look! I found a pock- November 2nd, and Ernest Robinson
“Brated. dh pone oan, Hoy tg Get 0 0. 8, Government etbook!” : ie was held for ihe grand jury on 2
Deality for gpa ocengy: ® ere was nothing inside but some arge of murder. : i? Pag
— mashes oon aa : cards. Robinson had torn these up ; ; Robert B. Phillips, Sr. Founder — peor ae geen gn Chief | NELLY FLATTENER. PLATTENER sent
Bide... 5. Ie a ae =... } and tossed the pieces, along with the Bre Ruppenthal waited four ience. Formerly R pector whisper Oo er | ae ae Return Matt. Don't
; pocketbook, to the ground. days before saying anything else geen “you'd be with changeable crotch yay Goupan: anes
MARCO cic dinn cciew ocinn nn ooicnnentc eis Veteran?...... .: — and Eiland returned to to the accused man. lohan began Secret Service h een sened. ou’d_ better pier. erat
Use This Ceupen Before You Misiay It. ontgomery. ; a vigorous grilling. rv Eiland gtk — =. oF.M. Rex. U.S. Pateut- Office:
t “ke ‘ . pector Eiland beckoned Solicitor
Write or Print Plainty. Chief Hail sat moodily in his office took over when the chief left off. Seibels over to the end of the co T's Ne a py! :
at Troy. He let the conversation run Eventually, Robinson admitted that
pack through his mind. Then he got he and his employer had argued, but
in his car and drove out to the edge denied that he had struck Eilbott. He
ON APPROVALT
, . omer The — — Pl
{ E a Ee TT aint feo
R E E 5 a tered. Inspector Eiland rushed from ;
\TaLoe t No obligation.
x Start and run yeer ows business
| of town, where the carnival had been said he had picked out several sample 1 ,
| set up. He spent a couple of hours rings. When Eilbott saw him with PAYS Ot SP oo (peagy dren beapeon hated fae a Seibels requested ani == = oe oe oe oe oe os oe oe
| kicking around among the emptied them he reprimanded him and swung substantial incomes. ours TECEss. | " | |WARD GREEN CO., Ddeptszsz 4
| popcorn and crackerjack boxes, pop at him. Robinson declared his em- . Men, worsen of ail ages, Lear eo octenees, oO ong a oe From 113 West 57th St. New York 19, N.Y. i .
! i in the b and related subjects. STUDY AT HOME or in our classrooms ere | % usiness Rush BELLY-PLATTENER in Plain Wrapper
ponanrven peri — =a pace pylon gs ory rigger ogo me Cries ee Soe ree ipa congrmng =n 4 acne rape Ese agin Ae em- | APPROVAL by Returm led and Gefighted wit an $2.58
. . : : . ploye, a man. Before n had . . 4 i
Finally, he found what he wanted— smooth floor, fell and struck his head. 15 &. Pershing Read Dept. HD Kaasss City, Me. i ai a wen ae sot sh ~ — Bgecnte Fesuits, I may return it in | 10 ays for
a torn, worn pocketbook and a hand- There was a little blood, he said,
ful of paper scraps. which he wiped away with a hand
Back at his office the paper scraps towek He stuffed this under the mat-
made a jigsaw puzzle, and Hall tress. He fied, he explained, because
: worked at matching the pieces. After he feared the wrath of his employer
EXCELLENT PROFTTS selling Fla- Ins’ ti Eilan
voring, Dessert Powders, Househoid, pector & d was placed on the meme ...........--. Wecersdvcaystgactuesase 2
Drug and Toilet Articies now in te. stand. Solicitor Seibels produced a
small piece of nickeled metal. Hoid-
|
1
FOOD AGENTS 27772 | wih charze: Soon the trial come peters :
i
1
1
hile he telephoned Chief R - after he should recover from the areas i Getting | | smal
' thal Mentenners. ore shock of the fall. But he swore he did Sample Outht Offer. eon Sane pioneered | ing it between finger and thumb for | ary clwessenendiecnaail Zone... State... ...----
| ““tRupe,” he said, “better hold on not kill Eilbott, in fact, did not strike go aE Bor tagetiedrenee ‘Inspector Eiland. , i ya Loeen se “Ow am So 0
| tight to Robinson. Those cards he him at all 2737 Dedier She boale 7, Me. pr rhc —ial anything about this piece | § 3 Also send extra detachabie crotch
‘ teow ee wee see ee oe ol 75
; tere up out at the carnival grounds And that was as much as Ruppen-
“W AM not afraid to die. My conscience is clear.”
Through the steel bars of a death cell in the West
Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville, I looked at a
pudgy little man with horn-rimmed glasses who spoke.
There were traces of tears in his eyes. But he was calm.
He began to talk again.
“I believe only God has the right to take human life,” he
said. “Capital punishment is wrong—especially if it is inflicted
on the basis of circumstantial evidence.”
The man who spoke was Harry I’. Powers, West Virginia's
notorious Bluebeard. It was 11 o’clock in the morning, March
ISth, And Harry Powers was to die at 9 o’clock that night
hy the noose that even then awaited in a grim little room
not twenty-five feet away.
It, hardly seemed possible that the man was not long for
this world. 1 didn’t seem that he was the man who had
mercilessly murdered five persons just a few months be-
fore. Yet he was condemned to die. .
There was only one of two conclusions to be reached:
Nither here was a cool, calculating killer who had no fear.
or here was aman who was innocent of the crimes for which
he stood convicted.
Two of his victims were middle-aged women, Mrs. Dorothy
Pressler Lemke, of North Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and
Mrs. Asa Buick Eicher, of
Park Ridge, Illinois. The
beard of West Virginia, who other three were children—
paid for his crimes, when the Mrs. Eicher s son and two
State swung him into Eternity at daughters. The five bodies
the end of a rope, at nine o’clock had been found in an ill-
on the evening of March 18th, 1932 smelling drainage ditch that
Harry F. Powers, the Blue-
The vine-covered portals of the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville where Bluebeard Powers spent
his last days before the fatal hour of his execution
64
9 se Jouky, LPFZ, [2G e OF
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