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- November 2001
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Dr. Benjamin H. Sherman, a well known medical practitioner of Dexter, Dallas county, was born in Anamosa, Iowa, May 16, 1879, a son of Perry H. and Jerusha (Smith) Sherman. [Perry Hawkins, above]
His father was born in Yorkshire Corners, New York, in 1838, being a son of James P. and Sarah Sherman, both natives of Vermont. Perry H. Sherman was reared in the place of his nativity until he had reached his nineteenth year, when he came west to Iowa, locating on a farm near Anamosa, Jones County. The place comprised four hundred acres and he resided thereon until 1891, when he removed to Rolfe, Pocahontas County, Iowa, purchasing a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He successfully conducted this tract of land and resided thereon until within a few years of his death, when he removed to the village of Rolfe, his death there occurring on May 18, 1900.
He was a republican in his political views but never an office seeker, though he served for many years as a member of the school board. He was unassuming and unostentatious in manner, of a quiet and retiring disposition, but nevertheless a man of genuine personal worth and one who was highly esteemed by all with whom he came in contact. Mrs. Sherman was born in Yorkshire Corners, New York, in the year 1839, and was of Scotch-English ancestry. She was a daughter of Daniel Smith, a prominent agriculturist of his community. In early life she became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church but later became connected with the Presbyterian faith. She passed away on October 6, 1905, and, like her husband, was deeply mourned by an extensive circle of friends.
Mr. and Mrs. Perry Sherman were the parents of eight children, six of whom survive: James P., who is engaged in business in Rolfe, Iowa; Mary E. the wife of O. B. Fuller, of Rolfe, Iowa; Frank H., also engaged in business in Rolfe, Iowa; Nellie, the wife of Nelson Mayer, living in Mitchell, South Dakota; Fred, an attorney of Rolfe, Iowa; and Benjamin H., the subject of this review.
Benjamin H. Sherman was reared at home, supplementing his early education by attendance at the Rolfe high school, from which he was graduated in 1897. For about a year and a half following his graduation he was employed as a clerk in the Globe Clothing Store in Rolfe and afterward spent one year in a clothing store in Cherokee, Iowa. In the latter year he returned to Rolfe and began reading medicine under the direction of Dr. E. W. Wilson. In the fall of 1899 he entered the medical department of the Iowa State University, which he attended for two years, after which he became a student in the medical department of the Northwestern University of Chicago, being graduated from this institution in the class of 1904. In July following he located for practice at Dexter, Iowa, and from the very beginning his success has been phenomenal, having in two years built up an enviable and profitable practice as a physician and surgeon. His skill in the application of remedial agencies is widely recognized, and he commands the respect and esteem of his patients, fellow-citizens and members of the medical fraternity.
On September 1, 1904, Dr. Sherman was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Loar, of Monroe, Iowa, a daughter of Thomas and Sadie (Frye) Loar. Her father was a school professor for more than twenty-five years and throughout almost his entire life was associated with educational work, though during the latter period of his active career he was a pharmacist.
That Dr. Sherman has won a prominent place in his chosen calling is indicated by the fact that he is now president of the Dallas-Guthrie Medical Society, and a member of the Iowa State Medical and the American Medical Associations. He is a republican in politics and fraternally is connected with Mt. Tabor lodge, No. 293, A. F. & A. M.; the Eastern Star; Dexter lodge, I.O.O.F.; the Modern Woodsmen of America; and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. The humanitarian principles on which these various organizations are founded find exemplification in the Doctor's material support of all church and charitable work.
Dr. Sherman is an enthusiastic automobilist and this affords him the needed recreation from the arduous duties devolving upon him in the prosecution of his profession. He possesses a pleasing personality and is warm-hearted and genial, therefore well deserving the popularity which he has gained as town physician of Dexter.
Philip (imm.), Peleg, Daniel, Seth, Humphrey, Nicholaus, Hannah m: HAZELTINE, Jennie m: ANDREWS, Frank, Josephine m: SINKER, (him).
Philip (imm.), Peleg, Daniel, Seth, Humphrey, Daniel, Myron m: Frances ROBERTSON, Edward, Gertrude.
Philip (imm.), Peleg, Daniel, Seth, Humphrey, Nicholaus, Winslow m: Laura Ann WHITE. Two of their children were Byron, and his sister Cynthia m: Clinton DAVIS, Fred. [Clinton Davis died about 1891, from typhoid fever]
When Ed Sinker sent me the attachment with "some" newspaper clippings about a murder case, I had no idea how convoluted a tale they would tell. I stored the file, and had not attempted to read it, or try to unscramble the facts, until preparing for this Clippings.. Whew! 15 long news articles, covering 57 pages!
I’ll attempt to relate the pertinent facts here in a few pages, and can only offer to send the complete file (an RTF file of 137K) to anyone who is interested in reading more about this story. I’ve highlighted the main people in the two descendant lines above, and ask Ed to please forgive me if my edited version here sounds uncaring. This was a terrible sequence of events, and certainly deserving of the sympathy for family members, to this day.
As background, Myron and his wife, Frances had four children. Their three daughters had all died at very young ages, and Frances was devastated with that. They lived in Jamestown, in southwestern NY. Their son Edward was married (Florence), and had three children, including a ten-year old boy named Arthur and two-½ year old Gertrude. They lived about 50 miles away, in Eldred, PA. In the late summer of 1894, Florence died, and Arthur and Gertrude went to live with their grandparents – delighting the lonely Frances.
A few months later, on Friday afternoon of December 7th, Myron and his wife and little Gertrude were riding in a carriage a few miles from home, in Lakewood, when Myron apparently tried to "beat" a train of the Erie RR across a country crossing. The news article read, "Engineer Williams was in charge of the locomotive. He saw the rig approaching the tracks and said he expected the driver to draw up when within a safe distance, but instead when it was too late to prevent the accident the horse sprang on the tracks and the engine going at full speed struck the rig."
Little Gertrude was killed instantly, Myron died several days later (on Tuesday), and his wife three days after that, on Friday morning. The funeral was at 1:00 the following day, on Saturday, at their home.
That Saturday morning, cousin Winslow Shearman left about 12:30, to attend the funeral. His wife Laura had been "feeble" for some time, and their daughter Cynthia and her son Fred had come a few days before to help out. Shortly after Winslow left for the funeral, Fred left to go and play with a friend on a nearby farm. Soon after that, Winslow’s son Byron and his wife rode into the yard and stopped to get a drink of water. He promised his mother and sister that they would stop back later that afternoon.
Winslow was known throughout the area to keep large sums of cash in his house, and had often helped many friends in the area with loans. A news account reads: "Mrs. Shearman had more than once, according to relatives, prophecised [sic] that some of the family would be murdered for the money which the house was known to contain. Everyone in the country round about knew Mr. Shearman was well to do and had money to loan, and that he kept no back account."
About 3:00pm, Byron and his wife and nephew Fred [they had picked him up along the way, heading back to the house] entered the yard, and soon discovered the bodies of Laura and Cynthia, who had been hacked to death with a hatchet!
From there the pages of newspaper accounts detail the investigation, many suspects questioned and released, and wander through the speculation and sensationalism much the same as our newspapers of today. Over $5,000 in rewards were posted [a considerable sum in 1890’s], and the five eerie deaths in one family within a fortnight became major news in the area. An account in the Jamestown Evening Journal, on Tuesday, Dec. 18th, under a heading of "Like Autumn Leaves", reads: " In number are the theories advanced by officers of the law and citizens, that the sheriff's department and the newspaper reporters are kept on the run tracing rumors to their source."
The Fredonia Censor, dated Wednesday morning, Dec. 19th, reads – in part:
"At sight of the double horror Mrs. Sherman nearly fainted. Her husband, white with emotion, stood speechless for a moment and then, with a forlorn hope that life had not yet left the victims, he told the boy, who stood trembling by, to run for help.
Freddie ran screaming down the road to Lawson's where he found his playmate. The two had horses saddled in a moment and were flying down the road. A quarter of a mile along they met Dr. Douglas, and young Davis returned with him to the house, while young Lawson went on to Lakewood to give the alarm.
Dr. Douglas found the couple at the house in a frenzy of grief. They were trying vainly to ressucitate [sic] the murdered women and did not cease till he told them that they no longer could hope. He says that on arrival he could detect a twitching in the neck of the older woman, but this is said to be common just after death suddenly.
The thought came to the son that the murderer might still be in the house, and he rushed from room to room armed with a stick. All were empty, but he saw at once the motive for the crime. In every room upstairs the bureaus had been rummaged and the contents strewn about the floor. An old-fashioned red secretary of soft wood stood in one corner of the old man's room. The upper front of this had been cracked open by some blunt instrument, evidently the head of a hatchet. In the white wood exposed by the blows could be seen here and there a tinge of blood. Many papers in the desk had been strewn about the floor. It was evident that the murderer, after killing the women, had brought to play his bloody hatchet on the secretary, thinking to find therein money that the old man was reputed to have. It could not be learned yesterday that any papers were taken. In the room adjoining that of Winslow Sherman, the boy slept. His purse, containing $4, lay untouched on a table. In the second drawer of Winslow Sherman's bureau was a bandana handkerchief knotted in three places containing $300 in gold and currency. The handkerchief had lain among some rags and these were found scattered on the floor. Winslow Sherman told Dist. Atty. Woodard yesterday that the money was not stolen, but would not show it when Woodard asked for a look. The attorney and the police are inclined to think that the money was taken, as it could hardly escape the eyes of the thief, who overhauled the drawer.
Up to this Tuesday morning no real clue has been found to the mystery of the horrible murders in Busti. Sheriff Jenner has offered $500 reward and the whole south part of the county is excited and indulging in all sorts of suspicions. Strange parties are reported to have been seen going through the fields, and much was made of the fact that a hard looking customer lodged in the Humphrey House that night, was called for the 4 o'clock a. m. train, and it was found that he had not occupied the bed." and on it goes –
THEN – in the Jamestown Evening Journal of Dec. 20th, the story takes a further strange twist when the headlines read: "THE MURDERER" and the story runs:
"A startling development was made in the Shearman murder case this morning. A photograph of the murderer has been discovered. Both Mrs. Shearman's eyes are believed to hold pictures of the man who murdered her.
Sheriff Jenner and Coroner Bowers Wednesday discussed the statement often made that the eyes of the dead retain pictures of the last objects on which they rest before the last breath is drawn. This morning it was decided to preceed on that theory, and taking Fred S. Marsh, they visited the Shearman farm. Mr. Marsh with his camera photographed one eye of Mrs. Shearman and, lo! the form of a man was formed there, a big burly man, wearing a long overcoat, with the cloth of his trousers badly wrinkled. The face of the man was not obtained. Both Mrs. Shearman's eyes were removed and taken by the coroner to Jamestown for further examination and to be photographed.
Mrs. Davis's eyes were photographed but no image was found there, consequently it is believed that the murderer came upon her from behind and dealt the deadly blow without showing himself to her.
This revelation caused a sensation at the farm house. Undertaker Partridge was present and says the photograph of the man's form and clothing on the one eye of Mrs Shearman which was exposed to Mr. Marsh's camera was perfectly distinct.
It is hoped that the other eye will furnish the means of identifying the murderer by giving his face."
For several more days, the eyewitness accounts of this phenomena run rampant, and the grand jury investigations consider and interview many leads.
Finally, the newspaper articles that Ed has from that period, end with one of January 23, 1895 – over a month later – still full of twists in the case.
Then, from Ed, a file sent to him by a Winslow Sherman [apparently a descendant] that reads: "Copied from the Jamestown Evening Journal dated Tuesday, April 16, 1940 by Winslow T. Shearman. The paper is one Grace [??] found with some old books, photographs and other material from home."
The headlines read:
MURDERS AT SHEARMAN HOMESTEAD, LAKEWOOD, N. Y. -- DECEMBER 16, 1894
Murders on Davis Farm Long Ago Were Sensation All Over Nation
Apparently the murders were never solved.
SHERMAN, Perry Hawkins. (1838-1902) of Rolfe, was a native of Cataraugus County, N.Y. At the age of four he was bereft of his parents and was deprived of a home, circumstances that compelled him to support himself as soon as he was able. He grew to manhood on a farm and in 1858, married Jerusha Smith. In 1865, he located in Jones County, Iowa, where he experienced the hardships common to pioneers of that section, one of which was the protection of their lives and homes against the depredations of outlaws. During a part of this period he was captain of a band of vigilantes, who were organized for the purpose of apprehending and punishing horse-thieves and other violators of law.
He was a Des Moines Township Trustee from 1896 to 1898. . In 1892, he became the owner and occupant of a farm adjoining Rolfe and died at the age of 62 in 1902. He was the father of eight children: James, 1863; Frank, 1865 both Merchants; Mary, (Mrs. Ormar Fuller) 1865, Nell, 1870, Alice, 1872 (she died in 1900 and was the wife of F. F. Elicker; Norman 1874 (died in infancy); Frederick, 1876 and Benjamine 1879 [following]. At this writing Fred and Ben were attending State University at Iowa City studying Law and Medicine, respectively.
Ed: The line begins with Michael and Mary (Koon) (ancestry unknown), James and Margaret (Reed), Perry (above).
Lydia was born in Burlington, New Jersey in 1824. Orphaned at nine and raised by an uncle, Lydia grew up and moved to New Brunswick in 1840, where she met and married her first husband, Edward Struck, a widower with six children.
Lydia moved to Manhattan where Stuck began a career as a patrolman for the NYPD. Together they had seven more children over an eighteen-year period. When Struck was discharged for cowardice behavior he became an unemployed drunk.
Thus began Lydia’s unusual fascination with rat poison, a newfound hobby that would lead her into a proficiency in murder by arsenic.
The unsuspecting Struck was tucked into bed one evening with a nice bowl of oatmeal gruel heavily seasoned with rat poison. A quick burial promptly deterred an official investigation into his death.
Unable to support six children she opted for the arsenic out. Baby William, four-year-old Edward, and six-year-old Martha Ann all died the same day. Fourteen-year-old George was given tea laced with arsenic when he became chronically ill. Anna Eliza suffered fevers and chills one winter and was promptly poisoned to remedy the sickness. Lydia, the eighteen-year-old namesake, died of natural causes two months after the last of her siblings died. A different doctor was called on for each child and Lydia’s word was taken as the truth in the causes of death.
In 1868 Lydia married a wealthy widower named Dennis Hulburt. He was an aging farmer who died within months of their marriage, leaving Lydia with $10,000.00.
Horatio Nelson SHERMAN was a widower with four children. He wanted to hire Lydia as a housekeeper and nursemaid for his baby. She finally accepted after he proposed marriage. They moved to Connecticut where she continued her habits of poisoning people.
Lydia poisoned baby Frankie and fourteen-year-old Ada. In grief, Horatio turned to alcohol and began drinking heavily and abusing her. He wasted her ill-gotten inheritance as well so Lydia poured rat poison into his brandy bottle and ended the relationship permanently. It was her way of curing him of his liquor problem.
A doctor in Connecticut became suspicious of the deaths and had Horatio’s liver and stomach tested by toxicologists. They found enough arsenic to kill an army. Vital organs of the dead children were also tested and found to be permeated with arsenic.
In 1872 Lydia went on trial in New Haven, Connecticut for murder. She cut an impressive figure and was fashionably dressed swaying Judge Park to advise jurors to consider only charges of second-degree murder. She wanted to convince them all that she murdered out of compassion for the sick.
Lydia was believed to have been responsible for the deaths of forty-two people. "The Queen of Poison" had finally ended her reign in 1878, when she died at Weathersfield Prison serving a life sentence.
Ed: Horatio Nelson SHERMAN was born 19 Feb 1824, and died in 1871. Descent from William "the Pilgrim"(imm), William, Ebenezer, Elisha, Ebenezer, Aaron, Aaron, (him).
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