The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-07
PREACHER KILLED
BODY or REV. !. H. CARMICHAEL
 FOUND IN CHURCH.
It Was Disme mbered and Motive fer Crime is . Deep Mystery--He Was Methodist Circuit
 Rider.

| Detrott, Mich., Jan. 6.-The diemem- bered body of Rev. John H Carmichael | a Methodist minister. was found to- l day partially consumed by fire In the two heating stoves. of one of his three churches near Columbus. in the south western part of St. Clair County Efforts were made to clear away the difficulties in identifying the body. Identifying of the dead clergyman was soon affected by orviile Lindsay, who was sent to the church for that pur- pose by Mrs. Carmichael. who had been in great distress since her husband failed to return homo as expected last evening, and who surmfsed the minis- ter was the victim as soon as she heard the report that some one had been murdered in the Columbus Church.
 But the clues to the murderer and his motive was more difficult to ob- tain. There was a rumor that a late in the afternoon and had been di- rected to the Church. and there were other rumors indicating that two men were implicated in the crime. The fact that several coins were found in the clothing of the dead man and in the ashes of the stoves. pre- ciuded the theory of robbery. and at the time of his death, 1t was not known that the murdered minister had an enemy in the world.
 Mir. Carmichael had been in Michigan about ten years and for two years had been pastor of the three churches at Columbus. Adair and China With his wife and three children, he resided at Adair. Leaving home yesterday morn- ing, he told Mrs. Carmichael that he was going to Columbus to arrange for a series of revival meetings there. He waved his hand affectionately to a group of children as he drove out of the village and from that moment all trace of him is lost. Myron Brown. who lives near the scene of the tragedy. was the first to discover the crime today. While he was waiting at the cross roads to keep an appointment, the cold wind drove him to seek sh elter in the church. He was surprised to find the church doors unlocked. and upon opening them was terrified to see the church floor, the pews and even the communion table daubed with blood and fragments of bloody clothing scattered all around.
 Evidently, the clergyman. who was 5s years old. and of athletic build. had made a terrific struggle for his life.
 without investigating further, Brown fled to his home. where he had key to the church. He returned and lock- ed the doors and hurried to the vil- lage of Hockey. where he notified the sherift's office at Port Huron.
 The authorities on their arrival at the church found parts of the dismem. bered body in the two stoves located. respectively. at the front and rear, and discovered in one stove the head of what was apparently a new hatchet. the handle of which had been burned off. A dirk was also found in the church. and 1t is believed that the dirk served for the murder while the hatchet was used to cut the body to pieces.
 The minister's horse was found to- day tied to a tree in the village of Pine River. the dead mans overcoat being in the buggy. Pine River is | small village near Thornton, one the main line of the Grand Trunk Rail- road. and fully twenty miles from the scene of the murder.
 The belief Is growing that the butch- ering of the inoffensive preacher was indication whatever of a motive for the crime aside from an overpowering lust for blood.
 It has been pointed out that the Car michael tragedy occurred within two miles of the place where. a few years ago, John StaIey was found dead in a culvert with his back fiddled by shot, otA6A9 b4AtVsS oAA0 t0A SO0S bAt9 VI scrap metal.
 The authorities are tracing the move- ments of a half-witted man, who lives in the district. They are at the same time following the clue regarding the stranger who arrived at Hickey yes- terday, and was directed to the Co., lumbus Church.
 one of the principal means of identi- 1cation of tfe minister's mutilated body was his spectacles, found in e case marked with his name and lying among the blood-stained fragments of his clothing on the floor Of the church.
 Dr. Hanson of Port Huron. the coun- ty- physician. who accompanied Sheriff Wagsenial and Prosecutor Brown to the scene of the murder. took charge of the bones found in the stove. pr. Hanson said tonight that while the trunk of the body was comparatively little burned. the only bones of the limb that could be recognized were q forearm and a finger. The base of the skull also was recovered.