No, this post isn't about a pirate, it's about a creepy guy who killed a lot of innocent people. Unlike most serial killers who are able to blend in, though, this guy totally looks the part. While his (known) crimes did take place in beautiful West Virginia, he wasn't from here and we don't take credit for anything but his conviction and hangin'!
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| In a Prison Cell Image Source: here. |
Sometime in 1892 a boy named Herman Drenth was born in the Netherlands. In 1910 his family decided to try for a better life in the US and ended up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At some point he changed his name to Harry Powers. Then in 1926, even though he was in his thirties, he moved with his parents to West Virginia. His father was a hard working farmer, but he was lazy and wanted an easier way to make money - you know the type.
Well, I guess he was lonely because he responded to an ad in Lonely Hearts Magazine and ended up getting married to Luella Strother in 1927. I can't say I'm surprised at his choice of wife. You see, Luella owned a general store in Clarksburg and she had some money. He worked selling used furniture. Harry still wasn't satisfied, however, and started taking out his own lonely hearts ads. He placed his adds in papers from other towns and states using aliases like Cornelius O. Pierson and A.R. Weaver. Whatever those things said must've been appealing because records from the post office showed 10-20 women responded daily!
This guy was a plotter and a planner. He didn't care about these women he wrote to, he just wanted their money. A male gold-digger. He knew he had to lure them in with sweet talk, then get them to come 'be with him.' But what was he supposed to do with them when they got there? He decided to build himself a garage with a basement. He called it his "lab."
He didn't just wait for the women to come to him, he was a hunter as well. He told Luella that he was going on "business trips," but he was really searching for wealthy women. Many of these women were widows, and some had kids.
Asta (Ester) Eicher was a widow living in Park Ridge, Illinois. She had three children, Greta, Harry, and Annabel. "Cornelius O. Pierson" went to visit her on June 23, 1931, and decided to take her on a trip. For several days the children stayed with a women, Elizabeth Abernathy, while the two got better acquainted. She received a letter one day that said "Pierson" was going to pick up the kids and they would all rejoin with Asta. When he got there he told one of the kids to go to the bank and get money from the mothers account. Well, the banker noticed the signature looked funny and wouldn't give them any money. Powers must've freaked at this point, and he quickly took the kids - and no money. The Eichers were never seen again. He ended up telling concerned neighbors and friends that they were on a European trip.
Dorothy Pressler Lemke would be his final victim, of how many no one knows. She was from Northboro, Massachusetts, and she had some money. He saw her ad and talked her into moving to Iowa to be his wife. She withdrew $4000 from the bank, packed her bags, and was ready to go. However, she failed to notice that when he sent to the bags ahead he sent them to Fairmont, West Virginia. She was also never seen again.
Friends of Asta Eicher decided it was time to talk to the police, things were just suspicious. The police were given the name Cornelius O. Piersons from West Virginia, but they couldn't find anyone by that name. Somebody apparently thought the guy they were describing sounded a lot like Harry Powers. Then, farmer who lived nearby noticed some pretty nasty smells coming from the "lab," and told police. Powers was arrested and his house in Quiet Dell and the "lab" were searched.
What they found under that garage was gruesome. One of the rooms was used for tying up and gassing his victims. The gas was piped into one room while Powers watched from behind a plate glass window. He admitted to being sexually pleased by their agony, even saying, "it beat any cathouse I was ever in..." The children were usually killed immediately after arriving to the death pit. Autopsy evidence on the Eichers showed that all the females had been strangled. Her son was beaten to death with a claw hammer.
The bodies of his five known victims were found in a shallow ditch which had recently been filled in. Men searched and dug for other possible victims, but none were found. When jailers asked Powers if their were any more bodies or victims he wasn't exactly cooperative. He didn't deny the killings, though, and practically admitted to having many more victims. He simply said, "You got me on five, what good would fifty more do?"
People hated this guy so much that on September 20th a mob surrounded the jail house where he was being held. The fire department tried to break up the crowd of nearly 1,000 strong with fire hoses, but when that didn't work they ended up using tear gas! Police decided it would be better to send him off to Moundsville Penitentiary to await the trial. The crimes had caused such a sensation that trial actually ended up taking place at Moore's Opera House - so that their would be enough room. The courtroom had 1,200 seats in it, but Powers didn't have a care in the world. The whole first day he struggled just to stay awake! I guess by the time it was his turn to take the stand he realized he was going to die. He cried and tears streamed down his face as he denied having killed anyone. He even tried to take back his perverted confessions.
Deliberations of the jury took place in a dressing-room, of all places. In just under two hours he was found guilty for all five murders and sentenced to hang. He had a change of heart in prison and wrote a full and detailed confession to his crimes. My guess it he wanted the fame. His last word was spoken on March 18, 1932. He was hanged at Moundsville Penitentiary, and when asked if he had any final words he said "No."
