Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-08-31
SEWER KILLING
Site DUG UP
FOR VICTIMS
Mail Lover May Have
Slain Others In
Cellar

HARRISBURG. w. Va, Aug. 81
@Pl-Convict road gangs today
began digging through the debris
littering an old well near the
garage Of death OF Harry F. Pow
erS, 40. seeking any more victims
there may be besides the five he
confessed he killed in his quest Of
the property OF matrimony-seeking
women.
They dug despite the smiling
statement from powers concerning
the five that that's all there are"
Digging progressed because officials
still held TO the belief that more
Of the hundreds or women with
whom Powers correspondent might
have died by his hand in the bloody
garage. and been buried nearby.
AIienists Called
Formal confession OF the killings
Of Mrs. Asia Eicher and her three
children all Of Chicago. and OF Mrs.
Dorothea Lempkegn Of Worcester,
Mass, was promised by Powers to-
day. with the possibility OF arraign-
ment 10 receive his plea later in
the day. AlienistS may examine him
for the state also, a move designed
by the prosecutor to offset any
possible insanity plea by the defense.
In almost every state of the
union. meanwhile. police officers
and postal authorities sought wo-
men who had written TO Powers
in his guise OF Cornelius o. Pier
son. wealthy and home-seeking
civil engineer.
once yesterday Powers told his
questioners he did not know how
many persons he had killed. Later
he insisted there were but five
those whose bodies already have
been recovered.
Details OF the killings came from
hir little BY little, while at the
scene four miles from here gangs
dug amid throngs Of curious and
souvenir hunters who almost de-
stroyCd the death garage in chip
ping fragments from 1t.
Hammer Murders
He brought the two women and
three children 10 the lonely garage
building about August l." he said.
kept them a while in the dark, air
less cubicles OF concrete and hollow
tile he had constructed secretly in
the cellar, and then brought them
into the light and air above only
To die al ropes end and BY hammer
blows. and suffer crude, clandestine
burial.
Harry Eicher. u, saw his mother
killed. Powers said, but in the mid
die OF II he let out an awful
scream. I was afraid the neighbors
would hear II so I picked up a
hammer and let him have IT,"
Discover of his victims, nd
telling Of mis- confession. seemingly
affected Powers little One he had
broken and revealed his secret. He
ate well, played poker with other
prisoners in the county jail, using
matches for chips.
At intervals he talked OF himself.
Crime Is Hobby
Rudolph Valentino was his idol.
he said, his hobbies crime-'Sci-
entific crime" and sex psychology.
His letters. police said. revealed him
as a self-aSSigned student OF wo-
men. Meanwhile he was profession
ally a roustabout salesman. or his
early life he would say nothing.
beyond that he was born in Cedar
Rapids. la.
Years ago he began dallying with
matrimonial agencies. "for fun" he
said. More recently he became
Cornelius o. Person" civil engi-
neer blocked by p%rofeSsic al duties
from social contacts, yet longing
meanwhile for a woman TO share
his wealth. his farms in the mid
west. his beautiful ten room house,
completely furnished" In that way
he met Mrs. Eicher. -eeking to ex-
tricate herself from pressing debt
while seemingly well-to-do herself.
Similarly he met Mrs. Lempke. In
recent years a resident OF Wor-
%cester, though in the past a resi-
OF St. Paul. MINI.