Harry Powers
Encyclopedia
Harry F. Powers also known as Cornelius O. Pierson and A. R. Weaver, was a convicted serial killer
who was hanged in Clarksburg
, West Virginia, in 1932. He lured his victims through "Lonely Hearts
" ads saying he was looking for love, but in reality intended to take his victims' money and then murder them. The 1953 novel Night of the Hunter and the 1955 film of the same name
were based on the crimes of Harry Powers.
and then migrated to West Virginia
in 1926. However, Herman did not want to be an immigrant farmer like his father. He wanted a higher standard of living and planned to use the resources and opportunities available in America that were unavailable in his home country to gain money. He served in World War I and when he returned, became wealthy by being an Oklahoma
oil stock promoter. He also began to use his aliases after returning home from the war.
In 1927, he married Luella Strother, an owner of a farm and grocery store, after responding to her lonely hearts
ad in Lonely Hearts Magazine. Although he was now married, Powers decided to take out his own lonely hearts ads to gain more money and companionship. He posted false information in his ads in an attempt to capture the attention of lonely women. Many women wrote in response to his advertisement. "Postal records later indicated that replies to Powers’ advertisement poured in at a rate of 10 to 20 letters per day." Powers constructed a garage and basement at his home in Quiet Dell
; the garage was later discovered to be the scene of the murders he was convicted of.
After his 1931 arrest, police investigation using fingerprints and photographs revealed that he had been incarcerated for burglary
under his birth name in Barron County, Wisconsin in 1921–1922.
. Powers went to visit Eicher and her children, Greta, Harry and Annabel on June 23, 1931 and soon left with Eicher for several days. Elizabeth Abernathy cared for the children until she received a letter saying that "Pierson" was going to come pick up the children to join him and their mother. When he arrived, he sent a child to the bank to withdraw money from Eicher's account. The child returned empty-handed because the signature on the check was forged
. Powers and the children then hastily departed; he told neighbors concerned about their disappearance that they were on a trip to Europe.
Some time later, Powers courted Dorothy Pressler Lemke from Northboro, Massachusetts
, who was also looking for love through lonely hearts ads. He brought her to Iowa to marry her and persuaded her to withdraw $4000 from her bank account. Lemke did not notice that instead of sending her trunks to Iowa, where Powers claimed to be living, he sent them to the address of Cornelius O. Pierson of Fairmont, Virginia. Asta Eicher, her children and Dorothy Lemke had disappeared with no explanation.
Powers' murders began to come to light on August 26, 1931 when police started looking into the disappearances of Asta Eicher and her children. Police began by inquiring into Eicher's last known contacts, and Cornelius O. Pierson was one of them. The police soon realized that no one named Cornelius Pierson lived in Clarksburg, but that the description matched that of Harry Powers. Powers was arrested as a suspect and Sheriff Wilford B. Grimm obtained a search warrant for his home in Quiet Dell.
Upon searching the home, police found the crime scene
in four rooms located under the garage. Bloody clothing, hair, a burned bankbook and a small bloody footprint of a child were discovered. Citizens of the town began to arrive at the scene to watch the unraveling of the crimes Powers had committed. Police began to dig up a freshly filled-in ditch found on Powers' property, and the bodies of Asta Eicher, her children and Dorothy Lemke were uncovered. Evidence and autopsy
results showed that the two girls and their mother were strangled to death while the young boy's head was beaten in with a hammer. Lemke was uncovered with a belt wrapped around her neck, with which she was strangled. Love letters were found in the trunk of Powers' automobile. He had written back to many women and had the intentions of stealing their money and killing them, just as with his most recent victims.
Moore's Opera House was used for Powers' trial, owing to the large number of people in attendance. It began on December 7, 1931 and lasted for five days before conviction. An extensive list of people testified against Powers, proving that there was evidence in his home; he had been with the victims, picked up their luggage and so on. Powers also testified for himself. On December 12, 1931, Powers was sentenced to death by hanging
on March 18, 1932. Judge John Southern stated, “It is the judgment of the court that you be taken to the state penitentiary at Moundsville, there to be kept and treated in the manner provided by law and then hanged by the neck until dead on March 18, 1932 between the hours of sunrise and sunset.” Of his crimes, Powers said "It beat any cat house
I was ever in" about watching his victims die.
at the Moundsville State Penitentiary to be hanged. He was told he could make one last statement, but he declined. The guard put a cap over his head and at 9:00 am, the button was pushed that dropped Powers through a trap door. After eleven minutes of hanging he was pronounced dead by the prison doctor and a doctor who witnessed the hanging.
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who was hanged in Clarksburg
Clarksburg, West Virginia
Clarksburg is a city in and the county seat of Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, in the north-central region of the state. It is the principal city of the Clarksburg, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area...
, West Virginia, in 1932. He lured his victims through "Lonely Hearts
Personal advertisement
A personal or personal ad is an item or notice traditionally in the newspaper, similar to a classified ad but in nature. In British English it is also commonly known as an advert in a lonely hearts column. With its rise in popularity, the World Wide Web has also become a common medium for...
" ads saying he was looking for love, but in reality intended to take his victims' money and then murder them. The 1953 novel Night of the Hunter and the 1955 film of the same name
The Night of the Hunter (film)
The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American thriller film directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters. The film is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, adapted for the screen by James Agee and Laughton...
were based on the crimes of Harry Powers.
Early life
Herman Drenth was born in 1892 in The Netherlands. He emigrated to the United States with his father, Hiram Drenth, in 1910. They lived in Cedar Rapids, IowaCedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city...
and then migrated to West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
in 1926. However, Herman did not want to be an immigrant farmer like his father. He wanted a higher standard of living and planned to use the resources and opportunities available in America that were unavailable in his home country to gain money. He served in World War I and when he returned, became wealthy by being an Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
oil stock promoter. He also began to use his aliases after returning home from the war.
In 1927, he married Luella Strother, an owner of a farm and grocery store, after responding to her lonely hearts
Lonely hearts killer
The phrase lonely hearts killer, sometimes also want-ad killer, or matrimonial bureau murderer, is a journalistic term of art that refers to a person who commits murder by contacting a victim who has either posted advertisements to, or answered advertisements via newspaper classified ads and...
ad in Lonely Hearts Magazine. Although he was now married, Powers decided to take out his own lonely hearts ads to gain more money and companionship. He posted false information in his ads in an attempt to capture the attention of lonely women. Many women wrote in response to his advertisement. "Postal records later indicated that replies to Powers’ advertisement poured in at a rate of 10 to 20 letters per day." Powers constructed a garage and basement at his home in Quiet Dell
Quiet Dell, West Virginia
Quiet Dell is an unincorporated community in Harrison County, West Virginia, United States. Quiet Dell is located at the junction of Interstate 79 and West Virginia Route 20 southeast of Clarksburg....
; the garage was later discovered to be the scene of the murders he was convicted of.
After his 1931 arrest, police investigation using fingerprints and photographs revealed that he had been incarcerated for burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
under his birth name in Barron County, Wisconsin in 1921–1922.
Murders
Using the alias Cornelius O. Pierson, Powers began writing letters to Asta Eicher, a widowed mother of three children residing in Park Ridge, IllinoisPark Ridge, Illinois
-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 37,775 people, 14,219 households, and 10,465 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,374.6 people per square mile . There were 14,646 housing units at an average density of 2,083.8 per square mile...
. Powers went to visit Eicher and her children, Greta, Harry and Annabel on June 23, 1931 and soon left with Eicher for several days. Elizabeth Abernathy cared for the children until she received a letter saying that "Pierson" was going to come pick up the children to join him and their mother. When he arrived, he sent a child to the bank to withdraw money from Eicher's account. The child returned empty-handed because the signature on the check was forged
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
. Powers and the children then hastily departed; he told neighbors concerned about their disappearance that they were on a trip to Europe.
Some time later, Powers courted Dorothy Pressler Lemke from Northboro, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, who was also looking for love through lonely hearts ads. He brought her to Iowa to marry her and persuaded her to withdraw $4000 from her bank account. Lemke did not notice that instead of sending her trunks to Iowa, where Powers claimed to be living, he sent them to the address of Cornelius O. Pierson of Fairmont, Virginia. Asta Eicher, her children and Dorothy Lemke had disappeared with no explanation.
Powers' murders began to come to light on August 26, 1931 when police started looking into the disappearances of Asta Eicher and her children. Police began by inquiring into Eicher's last known contacts, and Cornelius O. Pierson was one of them. The police soon realized that no one named Cornelius Pierson lived in Clarksburg, but that the description matched that of Harry Powers. Powers was arrested as a suspect and Sheriff Wilford B. Grimm obtained a search warrant for his home in Quiet Dell.
Upon searching the home, police found the crime scene
Crime scene
A crime scene is a location where an illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene investigators or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists....
in four rooms located under the garage. Bloody clothing, hair, a burned bankbook and a small bloody footprint of a child were discovered. Citizens of the town began to arrive at the scene to watch the unraveling of the crimes Powers had committed. Police began to dig up a freshly filled-in ditch found on Powers' property, and the bodies of Asta Eicher, her children and Dorothy Lemke were uncovered. Evidence and autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
results showed that the two girls and their mother were strangled to death while the young boy's head was beaten in with a hammer. Lemke was uncovered with a belt wrapped around her neck, with which she was strangled. Love letters were found in the trunk of Powers' automobile. He had written back to many women and had the intentions of stealing their money and killing them, just as with his most recent victims.
Imprisonment and trial
After Powers' arrest, thousands surrounded the county jail where he was being held on September 20, 1931 and demanded that he be given to the mob so they could serve him justice. The Clarksburg Fire Department tried to use fire hoses to disperse the crowd, and eventually tear gas was used. Officials decided to move Powers to the Moundsville State Penitentiary to keep him safe and calm the crowds of people.Moore's Opera House was used for Powers' trial, owing to the large number of people in attendance. It began on December 7, 1931 and lasted for five days before conviction. An extensive list of people testified against Powers, proving that there was evidence in his home; he had been with the victims, picked up their luggage and so on. Powers also testified for himself. On December 12, 1931, Powers was sentenced to death by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
on March 18, 1932. Judge John Southern stated, “It is the judgment of the court that you be taken to the state penitentiary at Moundsville, there to be kept and treated in the manner provided by law and then hanged by the neck until dead on March 18, 1932 between the hours of sunrise and sunset.” Of his crimes, Powers said "It beat any cat house
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
I was ever in" about watching his victims die.
Death
On March 18, 1932, Powers was walked to the scaffoldGallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
at the Moundsville State Penitentiary to be hanged. He was told he could make one last statement, but he declined. The guard put a cap over his head and at 9:00 am, the button was pushed that dropped Powers through a trap door. After eleven minutes of hanging he was pronounced dead by the prison doctor and a doctor who witnessed the hanging.
Further reading
- Schechter, Harold. The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers. Ballantine Books, 2003. 432.
- Jarvis, Benjamin. Harry Powers: Bluebeard of Quiet Dell West Virginia State Archives Collection December 12, 1931. Web. Sep 27, 2011.
- Hiles, Joe. Harry Powers: W. Va. serial killer Serial Killer Central. Nick Jones, June 25, 2007. Web. Sep. 27, 2011.