Murder of Harry Patterson

On July 8, 1914, a group of boys went to a swimming hole in Yeager, Oklahoma. A fight broke out between two close friends 13-year-old Nathan Halford and 12-year-old Harry Patterson. Nathan would then stab Harry in the chest with a knife. Harry would run and scream for help as he tugged at the knife. He would soon drop dead from it as the knife had hit his heart.

I could not find more information on the aftermath of this murder.

SOURCES:
The Oklahoma News July 8, 1914
The Witchita Beacon July 8, 1914
Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat July 9, 1914

St. Louis Globe-Democrat July 9, 1914

Murder of Benigna Cardoso da Silva

 

On October 15, 1928 Benigna da Silva was born as the youngest of four sibilings to her parents José Cardoso da Silva and Teresa Maria da Silva. Benigna would not get to know them though, her father would die before she was born and her mother died when she was one. Sisters Rosa and Honorina Sisnando would adopt the siblings and raised them as Catholics.  

Growing up in Oiti, Santana do Cariri, Ceará, Brazil Benigna was a regular attendee to Mass and took care of household chores. She enjoyed taking walks and having picnics with her siblings. She was known as someone who was always willing to help

In 1941 while she was 12 a Raimundo "Raul" Alves Riberio, who was around her age, would approach her with sexual advances. She would reject him and even asked her parish priest what to do about it. He told her to resist and reject him. She would listen to the advice and continue to reject Raul. 

On October 24th the now 13-year-old Benigna would go and get water in an isolated area. Raul would know she would go there and hide in the bushes waiting for her. She would arrive and he would jump out and attempt to grab her and attempted to rape her. She would resist and this angered him and he pulled out the machete he carried around with him.

He would strike her four times with the machete. The first strike would remove three fingers on her right hand, the second struck her forehead, the third was her stomach, and the fourth hit her neck, and the last strike killed her. She would die at 4 p.m. and Raul fled. Soon after she died her brother Cirineu went to look for her and found her.

She would be buried the next day. Police would investigate and there were several suspects including her brother Cirineu. Raul would be arrested and convicted of his crime. He would serve time in prison and showed remorse for the murder. He would return to the scene of the crime in 1991 and expressed his regret in killing her. Her body was relocated on May 26, 2012, to the Santana do Cariri parish church.

Benigna is in the process of beatification for defensum castitatis, which means she protected herself as a chaste virgin during an attack. Her beatification was initially scheduled for October 21, 2020, but due to Covid, it has been delayed. 

SOURCES:  

Wikipedia

DBpedia

Catholic Saints

People Pill

Murders of Freda Burnell and Florence Little

Freda Burnell                         Florence Little

On the morning of  5 Feb. 1921 around 9 a.m. 8-year-old Freda Burnell went to buy poultry grit and spice at Mortimer's Corn Store on Somerset Street in Abertillery, Wales. She would arrive at the store where 15-year-old Harold Jones was working. He would be the last person to see Freda alive.

He would somehow get the girl to the chicken run shed belonging to Harold's employer. This was where he would attack and kill the girl. He would tie up her elbows behind her back, and ankles together. She would have been gagged, and he would attempt to sexually assault her. He would hit her in the head with an ax handle and strangled her with a cord.

Later Freda's father would go and search for the girl, but she could not be found. He would go to the shop and ask if she had been there. Harold would tell him that she had been there, but was only there for 10 minutes and said that she was going to ask her father if loose poultry grit was okay. By 3 p.m. police were informed of the girl's disappearance. For 6 hours they searched for her, but could not find her. At 10:20 to 10:30 Harold kept others from the shed and went to it on his own.

Freda's body would be found at 7:30 the next morning. She was concealed in a bag still bound with the cord still wrapped around her neck. It was noted that traces of corn Chaff was found on her body. The police would look at the shed that Jones and his employers only had access to. Inside the shed, the ax handle used to beat her and her handkerchief was found hidden among sacking.

Harold would soon be arrested and tried for Freda's murder on 21 June. He would remain calm at trial even during his testimony for his own defense withstanding rigorous cross-examination. His employer Hebert Mortrimer would provide an alibi insisting that his son and Harold were working in the store before they were sent to deliver a sack of potatoes to a customer around 10 a.m. His father would also testify that Harold did not leave the home that night and leave Freda's body where it was found. His testimony was corroborated by his wife's and it was noted that he exhibited good behavior with young girls.

Evidence showing that Freda was likely killed by Harold. He had contradicted himself on several occasions in the initial inquest. Despite this after the jury deliberated for 5 hours and he would be acquitted for Freda's murder.

There were numerous supporters for Harold at the time. Many believed that a 15-year-old could not kill and sexually assault a young child. After a private reunion with his parents, they would be escorted to a local restaurant to eat. At the service, Harold would state "I thank you all. I do not hold a grudge against the people of Abertillery for the horrendous ordeal I have been put through." One of those who would greet him would be George Little a neighbor who would say "Well done, lad. We knew you didn't do it."

This would be a statement he would soon regret.

On8 July and 17 days after Harold was acquitted he noticed 11-year-old Florence Little and her sister Flossie outside his home on 10 Darran Rd. Harold would ask the young girl into his home to help him run an errand. She would go inside the home and be attacked. He would instantly partially strangle the girl and dragged her to the kitchen. He would beat her in the head and temple with a plank of wooded before suspending her head and neck over the sick where he grabbed her by the hair and slit her throat with his father's pocket knife.

He would wrap Florence's head with a grey army shirt and concealed her partially dressed body in the attic. He washed all the blood he could find and then proceed to take a bath. Florence's mother would come to the Jones home in search of her. Harold would tell her that she was there at his front door, but had run off. 

At 11:15 p.m. police were notified of Florence's disappearance which led to the house to house searches, and woodland and mountains were searched. There were hundreds of volunteers including Harold Jones. 

Police would still suspect the boy of this killing. When asked he repeated the lies he told Mrs. Little. With his father's consent, the police searched the home at 8:30 a.m. and Harold would sneak out of the home knowing she would be found. 

Police found that the trapdoor for the attic and a table nearby was blood-stained and had evidence of an attempt of being cleaned. They searched the attic and found the little girl's body outstretched on the rafters. An extended search of the home led to the blood-stained knife, a small egg-saucepan filled with blood and water, a blood-stained plank 19 inches long beneath the boiler.

When Phillip Jones was informed of the girl's murder he left the home to perform a citizen's arrest on his son. The two would then go back to Darran rd where Harold was placed under arrest.When the public heard of Harold's arrest for a second murdered girl around 500 people case to the local police station requesting that he be let free.

This was when Superintendent Lewis would address the crowd. "I have found the body of a child in the attic of Harold Jones, foully murdered, and I have arrested Harold Jones. I think this is all I can tell you and it would help us if you disperse and go to your homes." 

On 11 Julyinquest into Florence Little's murder began. On 23 July the jury took 30 minutes to find Harold guilty of murder. During this inquest, Harold was adamant about being innocent. While waiting for his trial in November though on 17 September he made a statement about the motive for the crimes. He said it was " a desire to kill" that led to the deaths. 

On 1 November 1921, he was tried in front of  Mr. Justice  Bray. The trial only last one hour and was ordered to be detained at His Majestys Pleasure. Harold was under 16 at the time and couldn't be subjected to any capital punishment. He would state that he also killed Freda because of his "desire to kill".

The grocery store was relocated and the Mortimer's moved. He felt guilt and may people were blaming him for giving a false alibi and it helped allow Harold to be able to kill  Florence. 

Harold would get out of prison on 6 December 1941. He would go and join the Merchant Navy. By 1948 he would then reside in Fulham, London, England under the name Harry Stevens.  He would then go on and have a family and go by Harry. He would get bone cancer and die on 2 Jan. 1971 in London, England. At the time he was going by Harry Jones and before he died he would tell his wife to put Harold Jones on his death certificate. 

Both Freda and Florence were buried in Brynithel Cemetary. Over the decades their graves would fall into disrepair. In 2017 a local author Neil Milkins helped raise £4,000 to help restore the graves and in 2018 they were able to do that. Family members of the girls appreciated that the graves were restored.

Mugshot of Harold Jones on 14 November 1921

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Murderpedia

South Wales Argus 4 August 2018

Find a Grave (Florence)

Murder Ballads: Murder of Delia Green

The murder of young African American Delia Young may have been the inspiration for the folk songs "Delia" and "Delia's Gone"

By Christmas Eve 1900 14-year-old Delia Green and14-year-old Cooney Houston (sometimes referred to Mose or Moses) had been dating for months by then. The two were at the home of Willie and Emma West on 113 Ann St. which was one block from Delia's home in Savannah, Georgia.

The West's were having a Christmas Eve party at their home. There were quite a few people who joined the party. At 3 A.M. on Christmas day Delia and Cooney were still at the party. It was said that Cooney was loaded. There are contradictions on whether he was the only one drunk or not at the party.

Witnesses claimed that Delia was mad at Cooney. He was teasing her, calling her his wife. He was joking around that they'd had a sexual relationship and wasn't talking to him at the party. Sometime during the argument, she called him a "Son of a Bitch." This angered the boy.

A shot was fired into Delia's groin area. She was dead and Cooney had the gun. He decided to run. Willie West then caught the 14-year-old and handed him over to patrolman J.T. Williams. J.T. Williams said that Cooney confessed to shooting her. That they had gotten in a fight and she called him a son of a bitch. This angered him and he shot her and said he would do it again.

At his trial, he wore shorts to make people realize he was young. He also backtracked on his confession and claimed that the gun had gone off accidentally. He said the Willie West asked the boy to retrieve his pistol from the gunshop. He still had the gun on him when he came back from a second errand of getting more alcohol. Willie Mills told the court that he witness Eddie Cohn and Conney fighting over a gurn and it accidentally went off.

Other witnesses called out the lies. They stated that Willie Mills wasn't at the party at the time. He had left earlier. Eddie had also left the party earlier and didn't even struggle with the boy over a pistol. No one believed this story.

He was found guilty, but because of his age, the judge gave him life in prison instead of the death penalty. He was then paroled by Governor John M. Slaton 12 years later 1913. His life is unknown, but he had died in New York City in 1927.

The ballads never state or ignore the fact that the two were in their early teens. The Delia's gone version (found above) makes it seem as if  Cooney or the killer was intentionally seeking out to kill Delia that night. Which wasn't true it was a bad and childish decision. It's doesn't excuse Cooney's crime, but it wasn't intentional. But now you know the tragic background to this murder ballad.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Country Daily 
Murder By Gaslight 
Find a Grave
Haunted Savannah Tours

Serial Killers: Ida Schnell the 13-year-old Serial Killer

13-year-old Ida Schnell worked as a nursemaid in Munich, Germany. She was under the service of several families. She was described as being big for her age, dull and sulky. She didn't stay very long at each home. No one suspected the young teen of the deaths of their children until after the funeral of the 6th infant that died in her care. Each one had died sudden and mysterious deaths within six months and all under her care.

It was decided that they would exhume the body of the last victim, a 14-day-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bichler of Ampermoching. The investigation revealed that the baby had been killed. The death was caused by a perforation of the child's soft skull with a sharp instrument. This was when it was confirmed that Ida had killed infants in her care. They tried exhuming two other victim's but they were too decomposed to tell the cause of death.

She was quickly questioned about Bichler's sons death. At first, she denied and said that his wound was from a fall. She would soon confess though. She stated that she hated hearing the baby cry and that she stuck her hairpin into his head until he stopped crying.

She would then go on and confess to doing it to the other babies that died under her care. She said that she had gotten into the habit of stabbing them in the back of the head with her hairpin until they stopped crying. She hated hearing them cry and wanted it to stop.

I could not find what had happened to the case and if Ida had served anytime in jail or an asylum.

SOURCES:
The Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser  (19 Oct. 1907)
The Baltimore Sun (03 Nov. 1907)
Buffalo Evening News (04 Nov. 1907)
Buffalo Evening News (18 Nov. 1907)

Murder of Eunice Bolles

12-year-old Hannah Ocuish is the youngest and last female to be documented and lawfully executed in North Carolina. Her mother was a Pequot Native American and her father was African American. She was also said to have had some intellectual disability. She was working as an indentured servant for an Ichabod Rogers at the time.

Hannah and 6-year-old Eunice Bolles, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, spent time together in a strawberry patch a few miles north of New London, Connecticut. They did not get along though after Eunice went home she told her parents Hannah was mean and took some of her strawberries.

About six weeks later on July 21, 1786, Eunice was walking to school on the Norwich road in New London. Hannah spotted the 6-year-old alone and beat her to death with rocks for complaining about the strawberry incident. After killing the girl she tried to cover her with large stones trying to make it seem as if the wall collapsed on her. But it was obvious that the stones were placed there and Eunice had been murdered. 

Eunice's body was found at about 9 a.m. The authorities knew of Hannah and Eunice's trouble. They began to interview Hannah and she lied to them claiming to seen four boys harassing Eunice where she was found. Authorities did not believe her and took her to the Bolles home to see Eunice, where she broke down and admitted to killing her.

Hannah was tried in October for the murder. She was convicted and found guilty of the murder.  During the trial, her age was put into account, but since the murder was brutal and she attempted to conceal the body she was given the death penalty. She seemed unconcerned during the trial.

She was set to be executed on December 20, 1786. When it came closer to her execution date she was becoming fearful. On the day of December 20th, she was crying for most of the day. Thousands gathered to watch the young girl hang. Reverend Henry Channing gave a lengthy sermon before her hanging. She said little but did thank the Sherrif for showing her kindness. 

SOURCES:

Courant

Murderpedia

Today in Connecticut  History

Wikipedia
Connecticut History