Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1919-01-03
Widow Killed By A Youth.

Hoi hilioo IIOIH OOleSVllle, TINS county.
Il killed her because she tried to Kill
me, Bowling said, in his confession to the
county officers who were questioning him
in the cell at the Jail here.
His story was that he killed the widow
In whose home he had been living, with
two blows on the head with an ak handle
on Saturday, December 21st. He said he
made sure she was dead and would not
suffer- and then dragged her body from the
dinine-room of the home to a bedroom.
he scrubbed note, intended to give the
impression that Mrs. Beckwith had COM
mitted suicide. He hurriedly changed his
clothes, and, taking SIS of his victims
money, left the neighborhood.
Bowling's story to the officers was hardly
believed by them. 1t was one of infatua-
ton for him, insistent demands that he
marry her, and, finally a suggestion of a
suicide pact, all of which, he declared, he
spurned.
| Bowling declared the murder was the
result of an attempt on the part of Mrs
Beckwith to kill him by putting guam
tity of iodine in a cup of tea. He said it
made him i'll, In fact, he was so sick he
went to see DR.. Brown, Of Burnt Mills, who
gave him some medicine. He said he was
sick the next day, and while shucking corn
for a neighbor he was compelled to give
up the work and lie down. He said an
argument with Mrs. Beckwith followed his
return home in the afternoon, during which
she suggested that they Idle together"
Referring to the iodine in his tea, Bow
ling said; II got dizzy when drank the
tea, and when saw her looking in a cats
eyes and say, I've got him now grabbed
an ak handle and struck her"
Bowling said he dealt her a second blow
to put her out Of her misery. Friday morn
ing he was turned over to Deputy Sheriff
Lechlider and brought to Rockville.
DISCOVERED BY FosrER-CHILD.
The murder of Mrs. Beckwith came to light
on Thursday Of last week when Edw. Gates,
of Washington city, her foster-child, paid
delayed Christmas visit to her house.
Early Thursday evening Bowling, eighteen
years old, a fugitive from the National
Training School for Boys, Bladenburg road
near the District line, who had resided in
Mrs. Beckwith's home the past few months,
admitted that he had slain the woman
who had befriended him because he feared
she would kill him.
His father Charles Sydney Bowling, con-
ducts a lunchroom at the courtyard at
Center Market and resided In Washington
prior to last August. when he went to Den
yer. Co.. for his health, his wife accompa-
nying him. He had been unable to man.
age his son Ralph, and sometime after
moving to Washington from lower Mary
land. March 10, last year, the latter was
sentenced to the local reformatory as be-
ing an incorrigble. Six months later he
walked away from the institution and was
not heard of by officials of the institution
until after his arrest for Mrs Beckwiths
murder.
lGilllik VI illONElnClllo lOnOWllB tllJ
commission of the crime, Bowling said he
started in the direction Of Washington i'm
mediately after killing Mrs. Beckwith, stop
ping at Chillum, Prince Georges county,
and sleeping in a barn. Thursday he
reached Washington, visited the house of
friends and told Of the Staying, and it
was due to this information that he was
arrested.
NEIGHBoRs ARE SUMMONED.
When Gates visited the house of his
foster mother about noon Thursday and
found the blinds closed and the doors fas-
tened he peered through the window and
saw her body on the floor, the towel over
her face suggesting there was something
wrong. Neighbors summoned by the young
man visited the house, forced an entrance
and discovered the woman had been muir
dered. a bloodstained ak handle telling
part of the story of the tragedy.
A deputy sheriff visited the house, took
charge of the premises and reported the
murder to Justice of the Peace E. p B. Mar
eerum, who impaneled jury and held an
inquest. Little testimony was taken and
the jury reached verdict that Mrs Beck
with was murdered by some individual I'M
known to the jury.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION.
After a thorough investigation of the
circumstances surrounding the murder,
/ States Attorney Albert M. Bouic stated
/ that he was convinced that the motive Of
| the self-confessed murderer. Ralph Bowl
ing, was robbery. and not that given by
| him in his confession.
The note found in the room in which
/ Mrs. Beckwith's body was found. and which
reads My Ralph is gone; | do not care
to live" was shown to Bowling in the jail.
He admitted, Mr.. Bouic says, that he wrote
it and placed it on the table His object
was, he explained, to clear himself by
making it appear that Mrs. Beckwith had
killed herself. In signed statement Bowl
ing denied that he had written any such
note.
Bowling also admitted to the States At
torney that he had made other false state
ments in the confession signed by him,
one of his misstatements being that the
evening before the murder he had visited
DR.. VIM. 7, Brown, at Burnt Mills, and re-
ceived treatment for iodine poisoning, Of
which he said he had been the victim at
the hands Of Mrs. Beckwith. He said that
he had not seen Dr. Brown. States At
torney Bouic also learned from DIR. Brown
that the only time he had ever treated
Bowling was several weeks before the
murder and that it was for some trivial
ailment.
Although Bowling insisted that he muir
dered Mrs. Beckwith because she attempt
ed to poison him the evening before. State S
A,to,nav Rouic IL MT inclined TO accent