The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-01-01
TELLS OF MURDER
Suspect in Bernhardt Mystery
Talks Too Much.
Discussion of Kansas Tragedy
Causes His Arrest.
HIS STORY Is WEAK
Murderer Tells Him of Crime,
C. *. Bowman Says.
Another Arrest in Quadruple
Killing Expected Soon.

Indianapolis, Jan. IA man suspect
ed of being the slayer of four persons on
the Bernhardt farm near Olathe, last
December was arrested near here last
night. He is Charles K. Bowman,
farmland
The arrest was made by Henry L.
zimmer chief of police Of Kansas City,
Kan, and Sheriff Cave of Olathe. Kan
1t ended a relentless search over many
states that has been pursued continu-
ously for more than year
Bowman was workingas a farmland
at Nora. a small town near here TWO
detectives from Indianapolis guarded
the rear of the farmhouse while Ch1eI
Zimmer and Sheriff Cave entered the
front door. Bowman, the police say,
started to run upstairs He was seized
by the officers and handcuffed.
4 -7iIe played over the face OF the
man when he was placed aboard a train
here to be taken back to Kansas. Bow
man says he is innocent of the crime
attributed to him by the Kansas ofh-
Gals He admits, they say, being a
farmland on the lonely Bernhardt
place when the four persons were slain
Killing Done With Pick Handle.
Bowman was held in the city prison
here until train time. The officers
would permit no one to speak to MIN.
According to the police. Bowman says
he was away from the farm when the
murder was committed AS he was re-
turning to the farm he met the man
who had killed the four persons, he said.
When ne heard of the brutal deaths,
he decided he had better get out OF the
country. The police assert that the
murderer told him George Bernhardt
and the t+hired man. had been killed
first The two went to the barn. When
George stepped out for a moment, the
murderer killed the hired man with a
pick hendle and then lay in wait for
Bernl1ardt. AS he stepped into the
barn the slayer hit from behind with
the house and killed Mrs Bernhardt
with clock weight The fourth victim,
the frapper, did not return until night
lie was slain with teae pick hass4sile aa
Bowman rerasea Is leii lss5 the
murderer was. He says he is now out
of the country. According to the po-
lice Bowman said the Bernharots
cuently refused to pay their wages
when due. That, he said, caused the
deaths of the four.
Talks Too Much About Murder.
BoWmans arrest came about
through a letter to Chief thinner
from an acquaintance of Bowman
here. Bowman had talked of the
murder, thus causing suspicion to fall
on him.
+ Bowman is a pow erful man, six
feet two inches tall. He is 22 years
old the son of WeStf1eld, Indiana
farmer He volunteered to come back
to Kansas without a reqnisition.
1t is expected that another arrest
will be made imme mediately upon the re-
turn of Chief thinner and Sheriff
Cave to Kansas City. A person who
was seen around the murder farm is
suspected of having a part in the
crime.
Story of Crimes Discovery.
Kansas City, Jan. lit was a bleak.
wintry night A dog sat on the door
step of the lonely farmhouse and
howled dismally. w. E. Gray, a rural
mail carrier. was attracted by the dog s
wall and knocked on the farmhouse
door. He got no response. He went
and the body of man in a stall part
" covered with straw So it was the
murder of the Bernhardt family on a
farm twelve miles south of Kansas
City was disclosed December II, 1910.
Gray spread the alarm. Over the
ice covered roads the neighbors came
to the farm. With lanterns they en-
tered the barn. More straw was
pushed off the frozen body. Another
body fearfully mangled was uncov-
cred. And then still another
The searching party entered the
house, 2-story structure that stood
on the peak of the hill hundred
wards from the barn. A trail of blood
led them up the stairs into a small
closet. There lay tfe body of a gray
haired woman. Beside her was an old
fashioned clockweight stained with
blood.