Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1909-01-15
CARMICHAEL CUTS
THROAT AND DIES
LEAVES WRITTEN CONFESSION
OF HIS KILLING OF HIS
FRIEND BROWNING.
HE WAS EVIDENTLY INSANE
Confession Settles Identity of Slayer
and Slain, but Leaves Many
Points Of Mystery Still
Unsolved.

Unsolved.
Carthage, Ill.-Rev. John H. Car
michael, confessed slayer of Gid
Browning in Rattle Run Methodist
church, near Columbus, Mich, cut
his throat in an outhouse here
Monday and died a few hours
later. He had arrived in Carthage on
Friday and gone to Miss Miranda
Hughes boarding house. He gave his
name as John Elder, and said that
he was a cabinetmaker and thought
of opening a shop in Carthage.
Monday morning at 7:40 o'clock he
went out to the toilet room, and
nothing more was seen or heard of
him until Miss Hughes went out to
feed her chickens. She heard moan
ing in the toilet room. Looking in
the door she saw the man on the
floor with his throat cut.
The opening of the letter addressed
to the Michigan sheriff indicated
that the strange man was Rev. John
H. Carmichael of Adair, Mich, want
ed for the murder of Gideon Brown
ing, a neighbor.
The confession, after some vague
and rambling sentences about Brown
ing's hypnotic influence over him,
comes down to the time of the trag-
edy in the church, where the minis
ter had met him to perform his mar
riage ceremony. 1t goes on to say:
Presently he took big hearty
laugh and said, There amt going to
| be no wedding He was sitting
where the CLEANS of light shone on
his face and his eyes were so bril-
liant that l was thrilled through and
through with the queerest sort of
feeling. l asked him why then he
had made the present arrangements,
when he said, Well, elder, 1 just
wanted to have little fun. You con-
slider yourself an educated man, and
| look down on a poor ignorant fellow
like me. And l just thought l would
show him what l could do. / knowed
| If l could handle you l could handle
other men, too, and make big thing
out of it. Then he said, Now, if
say raise up your hand up she goes.
See, that's no dream l felt my
hand rise with no effort whatever
on my part. Then he said, If / say
| let down your hand, down it goes
and l felt it going down in singular
manner. By this time / was so
alarmed that / was in a cold sweat.
l then leaned over to see if anyone
might be on the road, when he began
to laugh again and / saw that he was
holding a weapon of some sort up his
sleeve. Instantly l made a grab or
1t and got the hatchet from him and
asked what he meant to do with that.
He said, I'll show you,' and from his
overcoat pocket drew out a knife in
each hand. He came at me striking
with both hands, while backed
across the church down the side aisle
and across the front, but did not
dare to turn about to open the front
door. Then l threw the hatchet and
struck him and he fell. then turned
to open the door, when he grabbed
me by the leg and threw me down
where my hands came upon the
hatchet There was desperate
struggle, in which l used the hatchet
until he laid quiet and still. / cannot
tell all that happened after that.
was wild to dispose of the body. l
was in horrible terror, SO ! began
pulling off his garments that /
might drag the body away some
where and hide 1t, then when my
eyes fell upon one of those knives
flew into a rage and began to cut,
when he woke up and grabbed me
again. Then for a while used that
hatchet until was sure he was dead.
Then / saw that the fire was hot
enough to make the stove pipe red
nearly to the elbow, so / grabbed him
by the feet and dragged him down
there and cut him to pieces, putting
in each part as 1t was dismembered,
then began to put the garments into
the front stove, when / remembered
that 1t had poor draft and the
things might not burn; then | saw
that my clothing was torn and
bloody, while some of his were yet
whole, and exchanged and then
took all but few of mine and piled
them in along with the body. l then
went up nearly to Tunnel Station,
where / turned by rig about and
started 1t on the back track My big
coat hid my torn and bloody garments
until I got to Chicago, where / pur-
chased others. / am tried of trying
to hide, though l have succeeded in
eluding the detectives so far. II you
get this while l am yet alive, come
and get me. l shall not be far from
| Carthage Ill"