Big Posse Pursuing Masked Murderers

The Fairmont West Virginian., May 5, 1905

      PARKERSBURG, W.Va., May 5 - A posse of officers accompanied by a large number of infuriated residents are searching Calhoun county for three masked robbers who at an early hour yesterday morning shot to death Charles Berkshire, a farmer living near Brooksville, after inhumanely torturing his wife.  The family were aroused shortly after midnight by the robbers, who, after binding the wife, led the husband to the center of the room, turned up the lights and ordered Mrs. Berkshire to count ten, stating the if her husband did not tell them where his money was they would kill him on the tenth count.   The couple insisted that they had no money and the outlaws pinched and beat the woman and applied burning matches to the soles of her feet.

     Screaming in agony, Mrs. Berkshire finally consented to count ten, and on the tenth count a shot rang out and her husband fell dead.  The fiends becoming frightened, fled, and it was hours afterward when neighbors found the woman in such a pitiable state of collapse that it is feared she will die.

     I have searched but can find no more information about this event.  Nothing - not even if poor Mrs. Berkshire lived. 

Frank Fisher Killed His Sister

The Fairmont West Virginian, June 22, 1906

Coroner Amos Telephoned For

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     A telephone message was received here this afternoon to the effect that Frank Fisher, on the head waters of Buffalo Creek, in Mannington district had shot and killed his sister this morning.  The message stated that the killing was intentional and was witnessed by a sister of the murdered girl.  Coroner Amos was asked to come to the scene of the murder but her has not gone yet.  He and Prosecuting Attorney Lowe will probably go this evening.

     The Fisher home is said to be within a half mile of the Wetzel county line.  Very few details of the affair could be learned at press time. 

The Fairmont West Virginian, June 23, 1906

Was Arrested Then Released

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     As stated in yesterday's West Virginian, Coroner Amos was called to Mannington district yesterday afternoon to investigate the killing of a sister by Frank Fisher.  Coroner Amos started to the scene of the killing, but before her had gotten far from Mannington her met Deputy Sheriff J.D. Charlton, A.F. Millan and Brice Jolliffe, who had been at the scene of the shooting.  They reported that it was impossible to find out how the affair happened and that it was absolutely unnecessary to try to ferret out the facts in the case.  The Fishers seem to be a very trashy set of people, the father and one brother of Frank now serving time in the penitentiary.  The girl who was killed was said to be fairly good looking and had a brighter intellect than the others, but the lives of the whole family are said to be on a very low plane.

     An investigation by the officers failed to establish a sufficient number of facts upon which to base a further attempt and an order was issued to bury the girl without a coroner's investigation and Fisher was released.

     There's no more info to be found about this murder, not even what the girls name was or her age.  The whole thing just seems really strange, and I get the feeling the Fishers may be the inspiration for Deliverance.  Perhaps the police figured it best to just keep their distance!  

The West Virginia Bluebeard

     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'!     

 

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.    

Image Source: here.

     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."
      
            

 

     

           

       

The Greenbrier Ghost

Zona Heaster Image Source: here.

     In 1876 Elva "Zona" Heaster was born in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.  When she was twenty years old she met a man called E.S. Trout Shue - it was October 1896.  E.S. was short for Eramud Stribbling, but the papers called him E.S. or Edward, others called him Trout.  He was new in town, and looking for a blacksmiths job.  Well, he found a job, and the two got married.  Zonas mother, Mary Jane, didn't like him one bit.

     The marriage didn't last long at all, though, because on January 23, 1897 Zona was dead.  She was found in her home, lying at the foot of the stairs by a young boy named Andy Jones.  He had been sent there on an errand by Shue.  Naturally, the boy freaked out and ran home to tell his mom.  She called for the doctor and coroner to come quickly, but it took nearly an hour.

    When Dr. Knapp got there Shue had moved Zona's body upstairs to her bed, and didn't want anyone to touch her.  He had already dressed and readied her for the funeral, with a high collard dress and a shroud to cover her face.  This was especially strange because local woman were usually the ones to clean and prepare a body for burial.  As the Dr. tried to examine her, Shue wouldn't leave him alone with the body - he wouldn't even let him get close to her head.  

     All Dr. Knapp could see was that there was some bruising around her neck, but he decided to list the death as "everlasting faint."  Later, though, he remembered he had seen her two weeks before about "female trouble," so he changed cause of death to "childbirth."  It's actually unknown if she was pregnant or not.  When Mary Jane was told of her daughters death, she is said to have remarked "the devil has killed her."  Many believe she was referring to E.S. Trout.

Image Source: here.

    During Zonas wake Shue didn't want anyone to come close to the coffin, much less touch her body.  His emotions were all over the place.  One second he was crying, the next he would be getting on to people for disturbing his late wife.  He tried to convince them he was acting this way so that Zona could "rest easier."  Even stranger was the way he had tied a scarf around her neck, he cried and said it had been her favorite.  Her body was laid to rest on January 24, 1897.

     Well, Mary Jane didn't believe that her daughters' death had been some sort of freak accident, not for a second!  She was convinced that Trout Shue had killed her.  So, every night for a months she would pray that Zona would let her know what happened.  Sometime after the fourth week Zona appeared to Mary Jane in a dream.

     In the dream, Zona tells her mother that Shue was abusive to her.  On the day she died, he went into a rage because he believed she hadn't cooked any meat for dinner.  He was so angry that he broke her neck, which she proved by turning her head around backwards like an owl.  For four nights Mary Jane says she was visited by her daughters ghost.

     Mary Jane decided that this horrible man wasn't going to get away with this, so she went to see a prosecutor.  She spent hours trying to convince John Preston to reopen the case of her daughters death.  We don't know if he believed that Zona had visited her mother from the beyond, but he was convinced that something wasn't right.  So, he sent deputies out to talk to people again, just in case.  As it turns out, lots of locals had suspected foul play as well.

     Preston decided to go to see Dr. Knapp for himself.  The doctor told him how Shue had not allowed him to make a full and proper examination of the body.  When Preston heard this he thought it would be a god idea to exhume the body and have an official autopsy performed.  By law Shue had to be present for the autopsy.  He said he was sure he would end up arrested, but that no one could find him guilty of anything.  

     The body was dug up and autopsied in a one-room schoolhouse.  It took three hours to perform the autopsy, and it was obvious that she had met with foul play.  A report was published on March 9, 1897 that stated:

     "The discovery was made that the neck was broken and the windpipe mashed.  On the throat were the marks of fingers indicating that she had been choked.  The neck was dislocated between the first and second vertebrae.  The ligaments were torn and ruptured.  The windpipe had been crushed at a point in front of the neck."  Trout Shue was arrested for murdering his wife.

     During his stay in Lewisburg jail the townsfolk learned some interesting things about Mr. Shue.  It turned out that Zona hadn't been his first wife, or even his first wife to mysteriously die.  His first wife ended the marriage because he was very cruel to her, and his second died less than a year into their marriage.  Shue didn't seem too upset over the whole ordeal, he was sure he would be out soon.  He told whoever would listen that he wanted to marry seven women during his lifetime.  (What a strange thing for someone to want.)

Mary Jane Heaster Image Source: here.

     The trial finally started a couple of months later, on June 22, 1897.  Preston put Mary Jane Heaster on the stand, and she told all about her daughters visits.  Shue's lawyer was determined to make her out to be a lunatic for seeing ghosts.  He asked her all kinds of questions and tried to trick her into changing her story somehow, but she never did.  The town believed her story.  

     He was found guilty on July 11, and given a life sentence for the murder of his wife.  A lynch mob waited for him outside the jail, they wanted to see him hang for what he'd done.  The deputy sheriff wouldn't have any of that, and four of the mobs organizers ended up in trouble.  Shue ended up in Moundsville at the state penitentiary, but only lived three more years.  He supposedly died of some epidemic that was going around the prison.  His grave is unmarked.

Image Source: here.