The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-01-17
A JUVENILE MONSTER
A Counterpart of Jesse Pomeroy
Appears in Philadelphia.
MURDERED ALIVE YEAR-0LDB0Y

Samuel Henderson, Fifteen Years Old,
Lured Little Percy Lockyar to the
Woods, Where He Brutally Killed
HImnn Threw His Body Into a Creek
Philadelphia, Jan. 17.-The body of B.
year-old Percy Lockyar, who is believed
to have been murdered on Friday night
by 15-year-o Samuel Henderson, was
yesterday found in the bottom of Red
dies" creek Sixtieth and Catharine
streets, West Philadelphia, and there
seems little doubt in the minds of the
police that young Henderson is guilty
of the crime. He is now locked up in
a cell at police headquarters. The
body of the child, when found was
weighted by two heavy stones, one
about his neck and the other around
his ankles. His skull was crushed in
and there was knife thrust just above
the heart and similar wounds on his
breast side and forehead, while on one
side of the face is n long cut extending
from below the eye to the chin.
From what the police have been able
to learn the CRIME seems to have been
one of the most horrible character, and
If all it's details are true it stamps
young Henderson as a degenerate of the
worst type. He does not seem to
realize the enormitv of his crime. On
Saturday. after his arrest, he told this
story of the killing:
ct found Percy Lockyar at play with
several companions in front of the
West End schoolhouse, and induced
him to walk across the fields to the
woods in search of 'piggies' to play
i'm
some time he agreed to go, and we went
together.
81 was standing at the foot Of hill
on the side of which, half way up, Percy
was at play. / was whiting a stick
The creek was just behind me. All of
sudden I got tired of whiting and
stopped, holding my knife against my
hip, blade outward. Just then 1 saw
Percy running down the hill at full
speed. / had been bending over, and
just as 1 Strengthened up Percy struck
me and ran squarely upon the knife.
1t pierced his heart. He fell over back
ward, and didn't speak again, His legs
twitched once or twice. l was scared
because 1 thought l had killed him,
and picked the body up and carried it
TO the creek, where l tumbled 1t into
the water and went home"
Yesterday, however, when shown the
mutilated body of the child he admit
ted that he was responsible for those
cuts as well, but he still persisted that
1t was an accident.
The police, however, believe it was
planned murder, in which the guilty
one also purposed ending the life of an
other small boy, Willie Addison, aged
years. Henderson, it is claimed, has
been reading trashy novels of the wild
western stamp, and has shown a de-
sire to emulate the hero" of those
tales. The police assert that Hender-
son accompanied Lockyar and Addison
| to the woods, as he told on Saturday,
| but instead of any accident happening
| to either Henderson tied both children
to a tree. Addison broke away and ran
home. 1t was then, it is said, that
young I.ockyar's death was accomplish
| ed. DIR. Morton, the coroner's physi-
| clan, who examined the thrust above
! the heart, said that 1t caused the death
of the little fellow. The police searched
| for the body during all of Saturday
night, and it was not until after day
| light yesterday morning that 1t was
| found.
A fact that has come out In connee-
| ton with Henderson's alleged crime Is
that his father, John d. Henderson,
was on trial before Judge Reed, in
October, 1892, charged with killing a
man named Christopher Nelson The
| killing was the outcome of a quarrel.
Henderson, when arraigned, pleaded
guilty to manslaughter. He was re-
manded for sentence, but some time
later it was shown that the death was
| largely accidental, and there was no
murderous intent. He was admitted
to bail, and is now free man.
The murder of young Lockyar recalls
the crime early in the 7Os OF Jesse
Pomeroy, now serving a life sentence
In the Massachusetts state prison
| Pomeroy, then Is years old, lured a A.
year-old boy to the meadows back of
South Boston, and there stabbed the
| little ono to death with a Jackknife
The cljid's body was covered with
wounds, and his little hands were
cruelty hacked, showing that he had
held them before him in an effort to
ward off the cruel stabs. Pomeroy
since his Imprisonment. has made sew
eral clever attempts to escape.