Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1912 — SLAYERS’ CURSE STILL WORKS [ARTICLE]

SLAYERS’ CURSE STILL WORKS

Many Who Had Anything to Do With Arreat of Philadelphian Have Met Violent Death. Philadelphia.—The prediction made nearly seventeen years ago by H. H. Holmps, the arch murderer, that anybody having anything to do with his arrest, conviction or execution would meet an untimely death, either by their own hands or otherwise, Is once again recalled. This time the victim is Richard Johnson, forty-eight years old, who committed suicide by inhaling gas. Johnson was a member of the jury which fodnd Holmes guilty of murder in the first degree. Since the execution of Holmes, on May 7, 1896, many persons who had connection with the famous case have either taken their lives or met deaths of violence, their fates recalling the curse of Holmes, better known as the “Murderer with the evil eye.” The'fatal seizure of Judge Michael Arnold, who presided over the trial, the deaths by violence of jurymen, witnesses and others, the loss of life or position by officials, the property loss of those who were in business, have from time to time appeared as evidence that the malediction of the criminal of the century was nbt Idly spoken. Holies’, victims were never counted. He confessed to slaying 47 persons. . Johnson, the latest victim to fall under the so-called “spell” of Holmes, suicided because of despondency. One of the first to meet death following Holmes’ prediction, was Linford L. Biles, the foreman of the Jury, who waa killed by coming in contact with an electric wire. Later, Howard Perkins, superintendent of Moysanning prison, shot and killed himself. Robert Motherwell, a former superintendent of the prison, also at the county jail when Holmes was there, dropped dead. William Shoemaker, Holmes’ counsel, was barred from practice for two years.