Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1911 — MORE COMPLETE STORY OF FOWLER SENSATION [ARTICLE]

MORE COMPLETE STORY OF FOWLER SENSATION

Poole Confesses Killing, But Claims it Was Accidental While Hunting Rabbits Near Home.

LYNCHIN6 LOOKS PROBABLE Elmore Barce Employed to Defend ” r- ••• Poole—Detectives Search Farm For Other Hissing Farm Hands. . X Fowler, Ind., May 3. —Developments in the Poole sensation are coming thick and fast. Following the discovery of the decomposed body, supposed to be that of Joseph Kemper, on the Poole farm yesterday morning by Emory Poole, and the subsequent arrest of John' W. Poole on his farm near Rensselaer last night, came the confession this morning by Poole that he had killed Kemper. The confession was made to Sheriff Frank Shackleton and Marshal John Bowman. He said that the killing was accidental. The statement of the accused man is as follows: “Kemper had hitched the horse to the buggy for Mrs. Poole and she had driven to Swanington. I was sitting in the house when he came in and said that the dogs had run a rabbit under the fence in the hog lot, and that he was going to kill it. We started out for that purpose, Kemper carrying a .22-caliber rifle and I took a single barrel 12-gdage shotgun. Kemper climbed over the fence first an 4 I was following when my gun was accidentally discharged, the charge striking Kemper, who was only about four feet away, in the back of the head. He fell, falling backwards on the ground and I examined him to see if he was dead. Finding that he was, I started to notify the neighbors. As I started away the hogs came up to the body and I went back to drive them away. Then I changed my mind about telling the neighbors, as I thought they were prejudiced against me and would not believe what I said. I carried the body into the hog shed, and afterwards took it to the hay mow of the cow shed, "where I left it about a week. One day when going out to the field to haul some manure, I took the body along and buried it. The ground was frozen and I only dug a small hole. The body was also frozen and I had to cut the legs off to get it in the hole.”

When asked when he undressed Kemper’s body and what he had done with the clothes Poole was very evasive and said that it he was out home he could get the clothes, but from memory he could not tell where they were. He made no answer as to when he had undressed Kemper’s body. Poole claims that he did not bury the hog entrails and the pig carcass that were found on Kemper’s body in the hole In the field. Poole had not been told in what field the body was found and when asked by Sheriff Shackleton where he had buried it, he refused to tell—saying he did not remember just where he had burled It This statement, with other recent developements, lead Sheriff Shackleton to believe that there are more bodies burled on the farm and that Poole refuses to tell wtore he burled Kemper’s body, fearing he might divulge the secret grave of some other unfortunate victim. When asked how the blood spots mentioned by his son came to be in t!he Poole said that they were caused by the blood from some hogs that he had butchered the day following Kemper’s death. »-

Emory Poole, whe nlnterviewed at the Poole farm this morning said that he had always been suspicious of his father from the time that Kemper disappeared and was supposed to have gone to Chicago. He assigned as his reasons the blood spots on the floor and walls of the kitchen on his return from s Sunday afternoon hunting trip, and the peculiar actions of his father, particularly that evening when they played cards. His father, he said, was always a very enthusiastic player, but on this particular evening his mind seemed to be wandering. He played at random and lost track of the game. He said that he became so tttsplcidua of his father daring the game that he feared him and he went to William Basemore’s home and

asked him to come over to his father’s house and stay with him all night, giving Bazemore the excuse that since he was to help butcher at Poole’s home the following day, they would like for him to come over to sleep so as to be on hand early in the morping. He assigned as his reason for not telling the authorities of his suspicions that he feared he could not prove his statements and then his father would take revenge on him. But he said that since he had heard so many suspicious conversations between his father and mother, he felt safe in informing the authorities, and that it was information from him that led to the search of the farm two months ago, which proved fruitless.

When asked what led him to search for thb body in the place where It was found, nearly a naif mile from the house, he said that a conversation he had with Frances Moyer, a neighbor, last Saturday, led him to believe that the body was buried there. When asked why he was so 'persistent in hunting down this murder, Emory Poole said: “Don’t you think that any man who had committed murder should be brought to justice?” When asked if he thought there were anv other bodies buried on the place he would express no opinion. He said, however, that he had done all the digging he intended to. Emory Poole seems to have no fear himself of his father. He has never failed to spend Sunday night at home since the investigation, two months ago, and one night he even slept in the same room with his father. When asked If he didn’t think of the possible danger he was In he answered: “Yes, but I was prepared for it. My father couldn’t have stepped out of bed without me knowing it. I sleep very lightly.” In spite of the apparent hostility of the rest of the family toward the son’s attitude, he slept at the house Tuesday night, and apparently Intends to stay there tonight. When asked if he had ever heard of reports or stories that there had been mysterious disappearances other than this one on thi farm, he said that he had heard of them, but that some of them he knew there was nothing in. One in particular, a hand who went by the name if Mack, mailed him a postal card recently from Toledo. Another one he thought to be in Scranton, Pa. However, he said, this information came from his mother and father. Emory Poole was asked if the rumor that he was against his father for the purpose of getting him out of the way so as to get hold of the land was true. He said his father had no land to get, as all they had belonged to his mother and the children. When asked how the children had an interest in it, he refused to say, but inquiry developes the fact that the judgment James Quigley received against Poole some years ago has never been paid. The time Poole was declared insane a deed was made conveying the property to the children to avoid payment of the judgment Neighbors apparently do not credit the alleged insanity of the elder Poole. They think him a .very shrewd and cunning man In a business way. He has had trouble with several of his neighbors over the ownership of live stock that would go astray in that . neighborhood. In several of these Instances he beat his neighbors by his Bhrewdneas, and/ever after held an Hi feeling for them. It ie said that he had threatened to barn the barns of at least one man from whom he was accused Qf stealing. Sheriff Shackleton, who has Poole in charge, Is fearful about the prisoner’s safety as there is considerable talk about mob violence. He has raken extra precautions to prevent if possible any attempt on Poole’s life. An armed guard of ten men has been placed around and in the jail, and he has made other preparations for tlio safety of Poole. The statement of A. E. Courtwright who was assisting the undertaker to care for the body, gives rise to thj report that the body may not be that of Kemper. Poole says that he shot Kemper in the back of the head when there was not four feet distance between them. Mr. Courtwright says

that the skull found with the body shows no signs of a gun shot wound. His statement is corroborated by Coroner Lesage. Mr. Courtwright says that he found nine pieces of the skull and that if there was a gun shot wound he could find no evidence oT it. Three bones In the back of the (hull were fractured as if from a blow administered by some blunt instrument. The lower left jaw bone was broken and two teeth were broken off in the upper left jaw, indicating that a heavy blow have been received on the left side. The left leg was cut off six or seven inches below the thigh and it had the appearance of having been sawed off, although there is a possibility of it having been chopped'off with a very sharp ax. The statement of Mr. Courtwright will more than likely cause a diligent search to be made of the farm for more bodies. If Poole shot Kemper as he has said he did, the body from all indications Is not that of Kemper, but may be some one of the other farm hands who are said to be missing. The elder Poole has employed Attorney Elmore Barce to defend him and Poole’s daughter, Mrs. John R. Hass, of Mudlavla, arrived this afternoon and brought with her ex-Judge Charles R. Milford to assist in the defense of

her father. Mrs. Hass’s hu&band is the chief engineer of the Mudlavla hotel. Attorney Barce called at the jail early this morning and after a short interview went to the farm for a consultation with Mrs. Poole, who says she will spend every dollar she has to protect her husband. At 1:30 o’clock this afternoon Attorney Barce

and Mrs. Poole came In from the farm to the* jail for a joint conference with the prisoner. Attorney Barce carried a large package tied in newspapers which is thought to contain clothes last worn by Kemper. Mrs. Poole last night made a written statement for State’s Attorney John J. Hall, in which she denies all knowledge of the killing of Kemper, saying that the last she saw of him was when he hitched up the horse for her to go to town. On her return she asked her husband where Kemper was and he told her that he had gone to Chicago. The body of Kemper was hurled this afternoon at 1:30 o’clock in the Fowler cemetery. The head was not buried with the body, it being kept for inspection of the coroner’s jury, which will convene tomorrow in the circuit court room. If the coroner finds sufficient evidence to hold the prisoner it is likely that he will be taken before a justice of. the peace as the court will not convene until June 12, when the grand jury will be called. Though she declared she believes her father Innocent of the charge of murdering Joseph Kemper, Orace Poole, who will be a witness at the coroner’s inquest, said that she had seen and remarked on bloodstains on the walls of the kitchen of the Poole home after the disappearance of Kemper in December, 1909. She came today from Chicago, where she has been a student in a seminary, and "was at once placed under bond of SI,OOO as a witness for the state in the prosecution of her father. Her brother, Emory Poole, who headed the search-

ing party that found the dismembered and partially decomposed body of Kemper on the Pool farm, was held in $2,000 bond as a state's witness. Banda were furnished for both. Emory Poole will testify at the inquest tomorrow. Hundreds of farmers and townspeople attended the Inquest and assisted parties making further search on the Poole farm on the theory that they might find remains of the bodies of Charles Mack and Charles Clark, who mysteriously disappeared within the last few years after having been In the employ of John Poole. Excavations in different parts of the place will be continued tomorrow.