Vacation

Time for a writing break!  The blog and I will be on vacation for about the next month.  Expect us back around the last of August.  
Time to refresh and research!

Gotcha! The Slasher -Smasher is Apprehended

On the evening of December 16, 1934, Eugene Booher was picked up by Chief Karl Weaner and Brad W. Chaffin, wandering coatless on Fifth Street.  He had run away from the home where he lived as a foster child.  He came originally from an orphanage in Detroit.  It wasn't the first time that Eugene had been questioned about the events of summer 1934, but this time, he decided to confess to it all.

 The Crescent-News of December 18, 1934, headlined the capture and confession.

"Last summer's terrorist who stabbed four women, clubbed two others and shot another, today was merely a conscience-stricken 16 year old orphan boy who is glad he made a clean breast of it all.

Weeping one moment and emotionless the next, Eugene Booher, 1102 Perry street, smiles when he thinks it is all over and sheds tears when he wonders 'what will Mom think when she reads it in the paper.'

 He was sent to Columbus for a mental evaluation and then to the state hospital in Lima. While there, he and Herman Groty, 65, a trustee, escaped.  Groty's brother, who worked in the dining room, procured milkman uniforms for the two and they walked out right past the guards.

They were eventually captured about Christmas time near Beavercreek, Ohio.  Booher had frosted feet and was very hungry when found and returned.
His future beyond that is unknown to this writer.

The Defiance "Slasher" - 1934, Victims 6 and 7

In August, 1934, the "slasher" added two more victims: first, Mrs. Ethel Ansley and then Miss Mabel Kronz.

Mrs. Ethel Ansley, 20, was stabbed on August 1 on the Hopkins Street, Auglaize river bridge at about 10 p.m. where she was walking with Miss Edna Reed, 17.  The attacker actually passed the girls and then circled back to stab Mrs. Ansley in the back. The Crescent-News of August 3, 1934, reported:

"Although her back is sore, Mrs. Ansley had practically recovered today at the home of Mrs. Ray Stitsel, 639 Emmett street, where she is employed as a housekeeper.  She came here three weeks ago from Bryan.  Physicians considered her wound minor.  Had the knife blade entered slightly lower and pierced deeper, it would have been a serious wound.  It struck below her right shoulder blade."

**At this point, police connected only this attack and the Rosemary Mansfield attack with the "slasher."  They thought the method of attack differed with the other three attacks, so they weren't convinced that they were looking for just one man.  Then attack number 7 happened.

On August 24, Mabel Kronz was stabbed in an alley near the Mansfield Funeral Home, and that was the last attack of that summer.  By that time " a steam powered wildcat whistle was set up at the Defiance Milk Products company plant to be blown as a signal for the man-hunters to assemble."  The attacks on women stopped, but the city still was bothered by someone who was constantly breaking windows.  

As it turned out, one man was responsible for it all. 

The Defiance "Slasher" - Victim 5

A fifth attack crossed the line with the citizens of Defiance.  Not only were some vigilante groups formed, but organizations jumped into the search for this bold attacker after a fifth incident near the library.  The Crescent-News reported on June 13, 1934:

"Determined that the Defiance eluder-stabber might be caught, members of the American Legion and Lions Club today entered the hunt for the slender, dark-haired youth who Tuesday afternoon on Fort Street slashed Miss Rosemary Mansfield, daughter of attorney and Mrs. Victor Mansfield...

Miss Mansfield was recovering today at the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Mansfield, 425 Holgate Avenue.  Four stitches were required to close the wound which was over her right shoulder.  The victim's father arrived early today from Louisville, Ky. where he is an attorney for the federal land bank...

Spurred by public indignation that swept the community after the bold attack, all local law enforcement agencies, aided by a large number of volunteer workers, spent the entire night in rounding up any suspicious characters.  Eleven of those were held in the city jail.  Ten were released as impossible suspects, while the eleventh, from whom a large knife was taken, was detained for further investigation. A twelfth suspect who was picked up today was released after he had been saved by witnesses.

ATTACKED AT 3:30 P.M.

 The attack occurred at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon on Fort Street, as Miss Mansfield, in company with her sister, Kathleen, 15, and Miss Julia Rex, 16, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Rex, approached the Carnegie Public Library.  The trio were about half-way between the alley and Jefferson Avenue on the walk that passes the Leo Tustison residence when their assailant approached.  The slasher was described as a slender youth with dark hair combed pompadour.  He wore a blue work shirt with dark trousers.  After kniving the girl, the assailant continued east on the Fort Street sidewalk with a peculiar running gait, described as a lope.  The stabber turned south on the sidewalk on the west side of Jefferson Avenue to the attorney, R. H. Sutphen, corner and turned west on First Street."

**None of the girls saw the attacker's face, but they thought they could recognize him from his gait.  Mrs. C. S. May, 112 Jefferson Avenue, saw the man run onto First St. and Herman Steffel, a delivery wagon driver, also confirmed the descriptions given.  

"Meanwhile Miss Rosemary and her two companions ran screaming in the porch of the Leo O. Tustison home.  Getting no immediate response, they hurried to the Ralph W. Peters home near there.  Mrs. Peters, attracted by the screaming, had just reached the front door.  She took them inside.  Then she drove the victim to a physician office and returned to take the other two girls to their home."

**A crowd gathered, all talking of the girl's safety.  Police and volunteers began the search, especially focusing on garages and vacant buildings, but could find no trace of the attacker.
Miss Mansfield felt that should could identify the attacker, if found.

The Defiance "Slasher" - 1934, Victim 4

Another June 1st attack doubled police efforts to find the assailant or assailants "who have terrorized the city."  The Crescent-News of June 2, 1934, splashed news of the fourth attack on the front page.

"Mrs. Henry Hasch, 61, 1137 Emery Street, was the latest victim.  She was hit on the head with some blunt instrument as she answered a rap at her back door Friday night about 9 o'clock.

Mrs. Hasch last night received a half inch gash in her scalp above and somewhat in front of her left ear.  She was stunned for a few seconds during which her assailant ran through the side yard and across Emery street.  Then she ran screaming to the sidewalk.  Dale Rosendaul, who lives the next house south, had just driven into the garage.  He took Mrs. Hasch to a physician and notified police.  Severity of the blow was attested by the large lump on Mrs. Hasch's head.  She suffered from shock, but today was reported recovering...

Mrs. Hasch is the widow of the late Henry Hasch, who died last March.  She has lived alone in the Emery street house ever since, except for the time she has spent with relatives.  She had just returned Sunday from a week with relatives in Toledo.

Last night she visited Riverside Cemetery during the early evening.  After her return home, she had locked the barn at the rear of her lot and had been in the house only a few minutes when she heard a knock at the front door.  Approaching the door, she saw a fairly well dressed man with light shirt, dark trousers and long black hair.  She opened the screen and without a word, he hit her.

Whether the attacker used a broom handle found near by or a rock or a blackjack could not be determined.  No footprints could be found in the garden which extends from close to the house to the barn."


Police were still not convinced that they were dealing with the same attacker because there were some discrepancies in the description.  However, many citizens believed that a "demented" man was at large, preying upon women.

The Defiance "Slasher" - 1934, Victims 1-3

On May 31, 1934, the Crescent-News screamed this headline on page one.  As it would turn out, these two women were the first of seven women accosted by a man who the papers would later dub, "the Defiance Slasher."  In the three months of summer before the criminal was caught and sentenced, a bit of paranoia crept into the city, as police and citizens searched for the man with a knife and gun who preyed on women, even in the daylight hours.

Mrs. Frank Bentley and her daughter, Kathleen, were the first victims.  As they returned from activities at the Pentacostal church about 11:40 p.m. on May 30, they were attacked near the Wabash railroad tracks at the Pierce Street crossing.  According to the newspaper account, Mrs. Bentley screamed as three shots rang out, one entering her thigh, while Kathleen suffered from a clubbing on the head with the revolver handle.  

At first, police thought perhaps a jilted admirer of Kathleen might be out for revenge, but upon questioning, this theory was left behind.  Mrs. Bentley also had an ex-husband and a husband who happened to protest her attendance at the Pentacostal church.  Both of these men were questioned and released.

The women thought that the perpetrator may have started following them on Jackson Street, and in fact, mother and daughter laughed at their silliness.  Upon being attacked, Kathleen ran to the home of Henry Goins, 800 Harrison, while Mrs. Bentley reached the Clyde Cubberly home at Pierce and Harrison.  

Police found a 25 caliber shell on Wabash Street for their evidence collection. 

A second incident in the city occurred on June 1, 1934, but it was not immediately linked to the the attacks of the day before.  Again, headlines on the front page:

MRS. C. R WILLIAMS WOUNDED IN ARM AS SHE FLEES FROM HOME INTRUDER; NOT LINKED WITH SHOOTING.

"A man believed to be demented who stabbed Mrs. C. R. Williams, 1104 Wayne avenue, today at 10:30 a.m., had made good his getaway this afternoon, although Police Chief Karl A. Weaner and neighbors spent several hours scouring the neighborhood for the knife intruder.

Meanwhile Mrs. Williams was under a physician's care, suffering from nervous shock and a knife wound in the upper left arm.  The wound, evidently inflicted by the blade of a pocket knife, was in the bicep muscle...

Mrs. Williams...was working in the basement of her home this morning when she heard someone walking around on the first floor of her residence.  When she went to investigate, she found the man in the back living room.  She screamed and started to run out the back door.  The intruder pursued her without saying a word, she said.  As Mrs. Williams ran down the back steps, she stumbled and fell.  The man overtook her and they scuffled.

He struck her one blow with what Mrs. Williams believed was a pocket knife...

He ran through the back yard and down an alley past the Martin Duerk hone which is located directly back of the Williams' house in Latty street.  Mr. Duerk called to the runner to 'halt.'  He did and held up his arms as in a fighter's pose.  As Mr. Duerk approached, the man turned and ran away.  Mr Duerk got in his car and followed..." 

Unfortunately, the trail was lost.  Neighbors searched the whole vicinity, but found nothing.  However, both Mrs. Williams and Mr. Duerk were able to provide a good description of the stranger - 25-28 years old, medium height, slight build, hair long and black, dark trousers and blue work shirt. 

And, he was on the loose again...