The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1920-11-20
.B0HS WEIRD CRIME
STUAS KANSAS TOWN
Youth Pays 5000 to
Chum to Kill His Fam
lily, Says Confession
Bv Mabel ABBOTT
a boys win IS the Winds will.
and the Thoughts Of youth arr lpng,
long thoughts.

@t't'
ALMENA. Kna., Nov. e0.-Nobody
knew what Carl Johnson. t7-year-old
farmer boy. was thinking about as
he and his brother ranged the country
FAR and wide nlEht after night, on the
old Farm horses that were their near
est available approach 10 fiery bron-
choa.
Nobody know what Elmer Hleser-
a ~l6-year-old farm boy, was
thinking about. as he trudrcd In to
the n picture ahow IN the iittt coun-
Try settlement 81 Aimena when the
evening ehorea wero done.
And now nobody knows. or can guess
by the wildcat effort Of Mortified i'm.
aglnntion, what Carl and Elmer were
thinking about when, II Carts confess
sion ~ true to Norton county authuri-
ties " true. Elmer offered him 5000
20 XIII the whole Heiserman family
30 Elmer could inherit the property.
and Carl undertook the job md fired
Into the family group through "a win
low ns they sat together after supper.
wuunding the sister and the aged
grandmother.
He'll Ride No More
Carl VIII ride nj night no more for
awhile. for he rs locked In "a little square
box OF stone with iron bnra nt door
and window. In tho court house yard
VI Norton; and Elmcr. nut ON $1,000
bond. goes no more 70 town unless
his father r. hv his side.
And next February carl aud Elmer
will be tried FOR murder.
II r. a prepostesous tragedy;
an Incredible actually; q melo-
drama in the exaggerated terms
OF a boys iurid fancy. In q set
tins OF staid Kansas cornnclds.
The hare facts ARE these:
On the evening OF Oct. IS, as Jacob
HeiscrmRn weli-to-do farmer. living
a mile and "A half out OF Almanc, sat
with his wife, her mother. Mrs. Julia
~. Sharp. aged 80. and the daughter,
Faye. ~, In their lamp-lit sitting
room. five shots were fired through
the widow from tho darkness outside.
faye was struck twice una the grand
mother oncc. A deputy sheriff. called
by Holserman. met Cari coming out
"a the cOrniield. He confessed having
done the shooting, nud said Elmer
hired him to do II. He was To have
hot the other boy. ord, when he
came home thai night. Elmer had
liiid he must ave money, and II his
family were all dead he would got
the estate.
Tells same story
Carl told me the same s.ory. ia the
|lOckup at Norton. standing first on
one FOO and then ON The other, ike
"A small hoy caught In mischief. Hc
does not look his ~ years.
Elmer VIII not talk TO anyone about
the matter-not even. to his father,
Jacob Hriscrmnn old me. his rudy
face lined with trouble. Friends Of
the Heisermana refused to believe the
boy guilty, In spite OF startling zorro
borative oyidentc at the hearing.
Some OF the circumstances
were almoat comic. The rifle.
which Carl says Elmer fur
nlshed him. was n ~"22-short."
little better than "a opgun
The wounds II made proved To
be slight puncturca.
From the time when Carl claims
the plot vas Matched. In front OF the
giittering windows OF the 'iioyai
Care" In Almcna-four tables. u
counter n "a nasal phonogrnph-
Until he was arrested In the cornlicld,
was not more than threc-quarterH OF
an hour
Only thrcc-quartera Of an houri And
now there are iron bars between Carl
and the country roads where he used
10 ride the old farm horse az night.
And Elmer goca silently about has
rhoroH and never appears Ia the VII
lage without his father beside him.
and both are atill thinking the long.
long thoughts OF youth But nobody
knows what they are.