Evening journal., 1896-05-25
ACAREER Llnt HOLMES?
Rev. F.ar-is Iermans Accused
Of Killing Women.
LTLAKE CITY MURDER MYSTERY

SAT- LAKE Cry, Mny 25 This city
las boon muca aroused by the discovery
ylnt the Rev. fruncis Hermans, pastor Of
tho Swediss, Methodist church, is accused
Of the p drdcr Of two women, and that no
creme .od tho body Of ono OF than in tho
furr ace of the church.
4 is thought that Hermann, whose
Whereabouts are unknown. may intend to
leava the country, and Chief Of Police
Pratt tele2rnphed to tho police Of New
IorS nnd all the leading seaport towns
aSlJsg them % look nnt for the fugitive.
.atss ClawsoD who was member OF
Aermans chutch and was in his service
as domestic Disappeared as near as can
no ascortanod, on Sept 30 last year. How
tho gEi net her denth Is not known. 1t Is
nc'se cd that Hermans poisoned hor, as
sr eral bottles OF deadly drugs havu been
.ound among bis effects.
In the furnace have been found tho ro-
mains Of two razors and i carving knife
with which he Is supposed TO have cut up
tho body. which could not have been placed
in tho small furnace without dissection
The cremation Of tho body must have taken
meafly all OF one day, and oven then some
Hhs and other bones wore not entirely CON
sumed.
80 N~N''Ao IVY hle uOuts are lHOSe OF
woman, and tho friends OF the missing
Miss Clavson are sure that the belt buckle,
garter buckles and remnants Of jewery
fonnT In the ashes wero her property
cantor johnson Of the church says that
At the time when 1t Is supposed tho Gre
nation occurred Mr.. Hermans would not
permit hlm to enter the basement, The
minister said he was going to build fire
1or The puprose Of trying tho ppos, though
johnson himself had always done such
work
Tho minister used charcoal, which was
very unusual, as the furnace was built es.
peoally for b:tuminous coal
This oaor OF burning flesh oyercame
young mer who rooms In an adjoining
houso, Tie tried TO ascertain what was the
cause and asked the minister.
Said He was burning Garbage.
The latter replied that no had been
turning gnrbage which scavenger had
Failed Go haul away, and with this ex-
plhnat'on the young man was satisfied.
The first discovery Of the honos, razors and
knife was made by another minister who
was called TO take charge of the church
during tho absence OF Hormans ia the east
Ho went down In the basement 70 look
after tho furnace and found the remnants
Shere. Ho also discovered that the door Of
the furnace was smeared with blood This
door was taken OF, and an analysis Of the
stains showed that they are human blood
Miss Clawson, IL Is said, was In love
with the man. She attended church regu-
Early and was considered a good Christian /
girl. She appeared to bo fayoraito with
tho preacher, at least during the summer
Of last Year.
lt has bnen discovered that another do
inestlc, q SwedO named Annie Samualson,
has also disappeared. Sho was supposed
Go have gone TO her homo In Sweden last
fall after the disappearance or Miss Claw
son, hut sho has not arrived there. A 4
search OF Hermann's trunk has brought to i
light a number Of articles that belonged 4
to Miss Clawson and Miss samuolson.
watch and a ring belonging to Miss 4
Sanueson have also been found In Il
pawnshop, where the preacher had pawned /
them. Tho Rev. E. &C. MorS OF Brigham
City received a letter from Hormans
dated Kansas City May q, in which he |
lnclosed the pawn tickets. In this lettor /
no said that no did not expect to live much /
longer
IL was discovered that the parson had /
used a barrel on which to cut up body. 4
Tho barrel, with its tolltale blood stains, i
was found in corner of tho basement, 1
whore he had left &C.
Just boforo leaivrg for tho east carly /
this month Hormans gave TO Mr. John.
son box containing eight or ten vials Of 4
poison and some bottles Of ohloroform and /
other drugs, among which was a Vial OF /
pills FOR predicting abortion. lie had told i
johnson that having tuded medicine, he
found many of these things useful.
Miss Iarsen's statement
Miss Samuelson has an aunt Miss Lar.
sen, living in ths city. Annie was about
22 years CID, said Miss Larsen. "she /
came from Sweden about two years ago
nnd wns in the employ Of Mrs. Brinker
and then Of Mrs. Hardness, ih whose serv-
loo she remained until the middle of last
january She told me that she was en-
gagged to marry Tho Rev. Mr.. Hermans,
whose church she attended. 1t was dun
Ing the latter part of January that / last
saw annie, She came to me and told mo
she was going to be married shortly. She Il
was 60 50 10 Ogden to visit for a few days,
and Mr., Hermans was to join her there
and marry her.
ION Feb ! received a telegram from
Ogden signed Annie, saying that she
was On hor way % Sweden. On the fol
lowing day ! received a letter purporting
hetWeon her and tho clergyman was off,
and she was anxious to get away from
scenes that We're painful to her Mr. Her
mans. she said, was her superior socially,
and by agreement they had separated. "
since Miss Samuelson went away moth
ing has been heard from her She has
relatives living at Crookston, Mimi, but
they know nothing Of her present where.
ahouts. Her people In Sweden have heard
nothing from her.
HurmansA called upon Annie's aunt
ahont the time she received the telegram
and letter. and he also exhibited a letter
purport ng TO have been written by her,
and which was to the effect that she had 1
hrokon the engagement and started for
the old country.
The letters seem to have been written
by Hermans himself
Eermans has been married three times.
He first married in England, where his
wife died suddenly. He married his sec
ond wife Ia Superior, MINI, and shortly /
afterward she also died. He remarked /
again and his last wife died in this city /
about year ago.
She gave birth to a child, which died a 4
few days afterward. The mother, how 4
ever rqcOvared and was anuarentiv