The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-08-29
WEST V|RC|NAMA
LURED VICTIMS BY
MATR|M0NY OFFERS
Bodies of Chicago Woman and
Three Children are Found
Beneath Garage
PROMISES TO TELL ALL
Weakens After Night Of Cues
tioning and Promises to Bare
Details Of Atrocity
PROMISES TO TELL ALL

Clarksburg, w. ", Aug. 29.-R-
Andrew Moore, Harrison county jail
err, Saturday announced that Harry
F. Powers, alias Cornelius O. Pierson,
As, had confessed the murder of a
woman and three children whose
bodies were found under his garage
Friday. Moore said Powers, who was
locked up after q night Of question:
ing, promised to tell all" later in the
day. He was permitted to 60 to sleep
after having admitted the crime and
promising to sign a complete con-
fession.
Disheveled. red-eyed and nervous,
the once-suave correspondent of mat
rimonial agencies was hustled back to
his cell In the county Jail at day
break.
Saturday afternoon he asked that
a minister be sent to him and his re-
quest was granted. The man was al
lowed to talk alone with the Rev. T.
E. Gamer.
Il want to get right with my God"
Powers said.
After talking with the minister,
Powers began a statement to police
He said he lured Mrs. Eicher and her
children to the quiet Dell building.
police said, but there he stopped and
asked the officers to desist in their
questioning a half hour while he read
the Bible. They consented after he
said he would resume and make q
signed confession.
The police said the man told them
he brought Mrs. Eicher to West Vir-
ginia and a week later returned to
Chicago for the three chu5rE
The bodies, wrapped In bG:.ap and
buried in a drain sewer beneath the
oddly garage six miles
from here, were tentatively identified
as those Of Mrs. Asia Buick Eicher.
well-to-do Chicago widow and her
children. Harry. IL. Greta. IA. and
Anabel, 8.
The basement Of the garage was di-
vided by thick brick walls into four
chambers. There was a gas jet In
each Of these. Police expressed the
belief the victims might have been
gassed, although there were marks on
all thu bodies.
An autopsy revealed the woman and
children had not eaten for at least 48
hours before they were slain. The
examining physician said the woman
and two girls apparently died by
strangulation. The boys skull was
fractured twice, by blows from q ham
mer found buried with the bodies.
Searching through large packets OF
letters and papers found In q trunk
belonging to Powers, detectives were
piecing together the story of his al
legged activities as a one-man matri-
monial agency.
Among his papers, police said, they
found a copy + an advertisement ap-
parently used to promote correspond
ence with women.
Police have discovered that Powers,
corresponded with many women In
various parts Of the country.
Officers said residents Of the dis
trict in Clarksburg where the man
lived reported several months ago
that he dug sewers about hts resi-
dence in q peculiar manner, and that
he rebuffed neighbors when they
questioned him.
The mans wife. held in the county
Jail. said she believed he was innocent
of the killings.
The woman said her husbands cor
rect name was Harry F. Powers. She
said she knew nothing Of his corre-
spondence with other women.
Shown letters in her husbands
handwriting to other women. she
seemed indifferent. She said she still
loved him and intended to stand by
him."
DR.. H. H. Haynes. who assisted in
an autopsy. said apparently all the
victims had been hanged. In the ga
rage at Quiet Dell, he said, . piece OF
rope wa found around q rafter above
q door that led from the garage floor
To the basement of the structure.