The Monmouth inquirer., 1896-05-28
MYSTERIOUS KILLING
AEI FRANCIS aERmANs ACCUSED
OF NUMBERING WOMEN.

4 Alleged to Have Slain His Last Two Vic
tins In His church-The Police Look
fng For Him.
SALT LAKE CITY. May 26.-This city
has been much aroused by. the discovery
that the Rev. Francis Hermans, pastor O
/ the Swedish Methodist church, is accused
of the murder of two women, and that hi
cremated the body of one of them in the
/ furnace of the church
! 1t is thought that Hermans, whose
| whereabouts are unknown, may intend tt
/ leave the country, and Chief of Polios
! Pratt telegraphed to the police of New
York and all the leading seaport towns
asking them to look out for the fugitive
Miss Clawson, who was a member oi
Hermans' church and was in his service
as domestic, disappeared, as near as can
be ascertained, on Sept. 80 last year. How
the girl met her death is not known. It Is
believed that Hermans poisoned her, as
several bottles of deadly drugs have been
found among his effects
In the furnace have been found the re-
mains of two razors and carving knife,
with which he is supposed to have cut up
the body. which could not have been placed
in the small furnace without dissection.
The cremation of the body must have taken
nearly all of one day, and even then some
ribs and other bones were not entirely con-
sumed.
The doctors say the bones are those of a
woman, and the friends of the missing
Miss Clawson are sure that the belt buckle,
garter buckles and remnants of jewelry
found in the ashes were her property.
Janitor johnson of the church says that
at the time when it is supposed the cre-
nation occurred Mr.. Hermans would not
permit him to enter the basement. The
minister said he was going to build a fire
for the puprose of trying the pipes, though
johnson himself had always done such
work.
The minister used charcoal, which was
very unusual, as the furnace was built es
pecally for bituminous coal.
The odor of burning flesh overcame .
young man who rooms in an adjoining
house. He tried to ascertain what was the
cause and asked the minister.
Said He Was Burning Garbage.
The latter replied that he had been
burning garbage which scavenger had
failed to haul away, and with this ex-
PLANTATION the young man was satisfied.
The first discovery of the bones, razors and
knife was made by another minister, who
was called to take charge OF the church
during the absence of Hermans in the east
He went down in the basernent to look
after the furnace and found the remnants
there. He also discovered that the door Of
the furnace was smeared with blood. This
door was taken off, and an analysis of the
stains showed that they are human blood.
Miss Clawson. 1t is said, was in love
with the man. She attended church regu-
larly and was considered a good Christian
girl. She appeared to be a favorite with
the preacher. at least during the summer
of last year.
1t has been discovered that another do
mestic, Swede named Annie Samuelson,
has also disappeared She was supposed
to have gone to her home in Sweden last
| fall after the disappearance of Miss Claw
son. but she has not arrived there. A
search of Hermans' trunk has brought to
! light number of articles that belonged
to Miss Clawson and Miss Samuelson.
A watch and a ring belonging to Miss
Samuelson have also been found in a
! pawnshop where the preacher had paWned
them The Rev. e. Z. Mork Of Brigham
City received letter from Hermans
dated Kansas City, May 9, in which he
inclosed the pawn tickets In this letter
he said that he did not expect to live much
longer.
1t was discovered that the parson had
used barrel on which to cut up a body.
The barrel, with its telltale blood stains,
was found in corner of the basement,
where he had left 1t.
just before leaving for the east early
this month Hermans gave to Mr.. John
son box containing eight or ten vials Of
poison and some bottles of ohloroform and
other drugs, among which was a vial of
pills for producing abortion. He had told
johnson that, having studied medicine, he
found many of these things useful.
Miss Larsen's Statement.
Miss Samuelson has an aunt, Miss Lar
SEN living in this city. Annie was about
% years DID, said Miss Larsen "She
came from Sweden about two years ago
and was in the employ of Mrs. Brinker
and then of Mrs. Hardness, in whose serv-
ice she remained until the middle of last
January. She told me that she was en-
gagged to marry the Rev. Mr. Hermans,
whose church she attended. 1t was dur
ing the latter part of January that last
saw Annie. She came to me-and told me
she was going to be married shortly She
was to go to Ogden to visit for few days,
and Mr.. Hermans was to join her there
anu marry NOR.
"On Feb received telegram from
Ogden signed Annie, saying that she
was on her way to Sweden. On the fol-
lowing day l received letter purporting
to come from her. 1t said that everything
between her and the clergyman was off,
and she was anxious to get away from
scenes that were 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
elatives living at Crookston, MINI, but
they know nothing of her present where
abouts. Her people In Sweden have heard
nothing from her.
Hermans called upon Annie's aunt
about the time she received the telegram
and letter. and he also exhibited letter
purporting to have been written by her,
and which was to the effect that she had
broken the engagement and started for
the old country.
The letters seem TO have been written
by Hermans himself
Hermans has been married three times
He first married in England, where his
wife died suddenly. He married his SEQ
ond wife in 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 child, which died a