The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1909-01-14
PASTOR NOT VICTIM
Man Murdered in a Michigan
Church Was Carpenter.
IDENTIFIED BY FALSE TEETH
Authorities Offer Reward for Appre-
henslon Of Rev. J. n. Carmichael
No Motive for the Shocking Crime
Has Yet Been Discovered.

Port Huron, Mich, Jan. By
means of two false teeth 1t was defin-
itely established yesterday afternoon
that Gideon Browning of Adair vii
lage was the man who was butchercd
last Tuesday evening in the little
Rattle Run" Methodist church in
Columbus township.
With part OF the mystery which has
enshrouded the brutal crime thus
cleared, the supervisors of St clair
county Immediately offered a reward
of $500 for the arrest of Rev. John II.
Carmichael of Adair. pastor of the lit
tie church. who was at first supposed
70 have been killed, dismembered and
then burned in the stove.
Dentist Recognizes Teeth.
The teeth which identified the dead
man were found when the ashes from
the stove were siited. Yesterday aft
ernoon when Dr.. G. II. Browbeer OF
st. Clair the dentist who made Brown
ing a set OF false teeth recently, eX-
amined them thoroughly, be decided
that the blackened relies were part
Of Browning's set Ills decision salts
ded Prosecuting Attorney Brown that
it was Browning who had been killed.
Rev. Mr.. Carmichael is a man over
six feet tall. weighing more than 200
pounds and the description says:
Both legs have been broken and he
walks with a decided limp. Both his
feet turn out noticeably, one at an
"a n r
on the upper lip and another on the
side of his nose. His eyes are light
blue or gray. There Is another scar
On one of his legs below the knee.
When he disappeared he wore his
brownlsh beard closely cropped at the
sides. The beard and his hair, also
brown, showing little gray, had been
recently trimmed"
Motive for Crime Is Mystery.
Strenuous efforts to discover some
motive for the destruction Of the car
penter by the minister have been
iruitless. Rumors that Carmichael
had been seen crossing the st. Clair
river into Canada could not be cor
roborated. An officer sent to St.
Thomas, Ont, reported no trace Of
him there.
Mrs. Carmichael and Miss Carmi-
chael, wife and daughter OF the min
ister, were examined by the prosecut-
ing attorney here and he stated after.
ward that he was convinced they
knew nothing of the murder nor the
mans disappearance.
Minister'S Sister Insane.
4 statement by Mrs. Carmichael
that her husbands sister is an inmate
Of an insane asylum in West Virginia
may explain some of the horrible fea-
cures of the crime, If the authorities
suspicious about Rev. Carmichael are
borne out. Mrs. Carmichael also said
that her husband was moody and rest
less the night before he disappeared
and apparently brooding over some
thing.
II was also learned yesterday that
on Monday, the day before the murder,
Mr.. Carmichael went to the post office
in Adair. apparently much agitated
and perturbed, and received a letter
which he took away without opening.
# is thought that this letter may have
had some connection with the strange
intimacy between the minister and
carpenter, which had been noticed for
a number of weeks before their disap-
pearance and the crime in the church.