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BRUTAL MURDER AT OTTER CREEK FRIDAY - MRS. EMMA TURNBULL SLAIN IN GHASTLY CRIME
Body Found Half Clothed in Woods at Rear of House - Skull Crushed With Flatiron And Friven into Ground - Robbery Apparent Motive - A Bewildering Variety Of Surmises
Summary To Date In Turnbull Case
Body of murdered widow found in woods at her rear of house Friday night.
Bloodstained flatiron found near body Saturday.
Body evidently carried from house to woods by murderer and dropped there.
Only weak chain of circustantial evidence against any suspects.
Robbery apparently the chief motive for the crime.
Two hypotheses now being investigated.
Rumor of another woman introduced into the case.
No arrests to date.
The most brutal murder ever committed in this section of the state , and in fact, the only one that has occurred on this island as far back as the present generation can remember, occurred some time last Friday afternoon, when Mrs Emma Turnbull was killed at her home just out of the village of Otter creek. In spite of the fact that a week has passed the shock of the terrible tragedy has not left the town and developements in the case are still the chief subjects of conversation in every quarter. The lack of positive evidence connecting anyone with the crime, the ghastliness and brutailty with which it was committed, and the fact that it happened in broad daylight, only a short distance from the main road, with teams and automobiles passing every few minutes, render it an unusual case in the annals of Maine Crime.
Robbery now appears to have been the chief motive, if one appears. If such is the case, the ammount in question was the wages of Mrs Turnbulls son Howard, who is employed as a gardiner and must have been the object sought, this in the vicinity of $50. It was a pitiful motive for such a shocking crime although there have been records of murders where the ammount sought was only a dollar or two. In the case of Mrs Turnbull the money which her son had carried home as his month's wages had all been spent in paying some bills but a dollar or two.
Mrs Turnbulls body was found in the early part of the evening by neighbors. she had spent the afternoon blueberrying and evidently returned home about 3 in the afternoon. Apparently she had been changing her clothes, for her shoes were found in the middle of the floor, and the body when found was clad only in her under clothes. About 3;45 her young son, Harold, aged 8, came home and noticed a pool of blood upon the floor. He wiped it up and later went to neighbors. When supper time came it was supposed that she might have cut her hand on a broken lamp chimney which was found in the room and gone in search of medical aid, the nearest doctor being at Seal Harbor. At dark, when the woman had not returned, and no signs of her were found, a searching party was started. After some investigation, they found her body about fifty feet back of the house in the tall grass there. The back of the skull was crushed in and the head jammed into the dirt. The body was partially clothed and the skirts covered with blood as if the murderer, in carrying his victim there, had wrapped the bloody head up in her skirts which he had pulled up over her head.
The Chief of police was at once notified, as well as the county officials, and a number of policemen and others were at once on the scene. Nothing could be done in the darkness more than taking care of the body, but as soon as daylight appeared an exhaustive search was started. In the house was found a flatiron with hair and blood upon it and near the body was found another, covered with blood and hair, which was undoubtedly the weapon with which the crime was committed.
With rumors of three drunken negroes who had been supposed to be hanging about that locality during the day were soon found to have no foundation. Suspicion pointed to one or two individuals, who were given searching inquiries by the officials and it is understood that some clothing was taken from one man and sent away to be tested for blood stains.
The case presents a number of mysterous features. How did the bloody flatiron come to be outdoors by the body? From the blood found in the house, it is evident that blows were struck there. Evidently the body was carried out into the grass and bushes back of the house. The body of a grown woman is a heavy burden for anyone to carry alone, as well as carrying a flariron besides.
The general surmise is that someone entered the house for the money that her son, Howard, brought home as his monthly wages, possibly not expecting to find Mrs Turnbull at home. An altercation than took place and probably Mrs Turnbull was struck with one of the flatirons. In a fit of rage or fear the murderer may have carried the body from the house, dropped it in the grass, and than made sure of his victim by repeated blows with the second flatiron; although it seems impossible that he would go back for the weapon, and equally improbable that he would of carried woman and missile both. The house is only a short distance from the road.
ARREST IN TURNBULL CASE - GUY SMALL IN CUSATODY
BAR HARBOR TIMES
AUGUST 26, 1916
Neighbor Of Murdered Woman Arrested On Tuesday charged With Her Death - Circumstantial Evidence
Questions brought out by first day of small Trial
Did Guy small wear a pair of light pants the day of the murder?
If he did, what became of them>
Where was he on the fatal Friday afternoon?
Had there been any trouble between him and Mrs. Turnbull?
Can the conflicting stories of his whereabouts Friday be reconciled?
The Turnbull murder case which has been more or less in the background after the first week, but which has not dropped altogether out of public view, came into the limelight again Tuesday when Guy Small of Otter Creek, who fell under suspect the day after the crime was committed, was arrested in connection with the case. For a fortnight or more state (unreadable) Lawrence J. Colgan has been at work on the case and, after consultation with Attorney General Pattangall on Tuesday, the officers decided that their chain of evidence against Small was sufficient to warrant an arrest. Small was accordingly taken into custody shortly after noon Tuesday, the state detective and deputy sheriff Clark going down to Otter Creek for that purpose. Small, who has been under more or less surveillance for some time, was found at his home, near the house of the murdered woman, a little further down and across the road, and was notified that the officers wanted him. After he had changed his cloths and washed up he was brought to Bar Harbor and lodged in the lockup. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday morning in the municipal court room, which was packed to the doors, many women being in the gathering. After a short session it was decided to adjourn till Thursday at the same hour.
Small's story of his whereabouts during the afternoon of the crime has not been altogether satisfactory or convincing. There have been some discrepancies in it, as well as in that told by his wife as to his whereabouts. From the evidence brought out at the inquest, the crime must of taken place between 3 and 3;45, the murdered woman having come home about 3, while about the latter time her young son came home and found a pool of blood on the floor.
A pair of pants, which small is alleged to have been wearing the day of the murder were missing and his wife declared that she had used them to make a mop with. Other garments of his were examined for blood stains and he told of cutting himself and getting some blood on his cloths that way. The case against him seems to be entirely circumstantial however, and while a number of clues have been carefully looked into there have been but a few developments since the day of the murder. The state officials have been weaving a gradual web of circumstances around the prisoner, however, and have made it complete enough so that they felt justified in making the arrest.
Since the inquest Small has maintained a sullen, defiant air which has changed but little. "I know that the people around here won't believe me, and I know I'm in bad with them," he has said to several people, at the same time stoutly protesting his innocence. "They haven't got anything on me, and can't," he is reported to have said to various crimes.
Several attempts have been made with Belgian police dogs to trace a trail from the murdered woman's home to some definite point but all of them have ended in failure.
The diminutive municipal courtroom was out of the question for the holding of the hearing Thursday when Small was arranged and the sessions were held in the assessors office in Odd Fellows Hall. This too, proved altogether inadequate for the hundreds who desired to enter. Every available inch of standing room was taken in the hall, the corridors were jammed with a curious and excited throng long before the hour set for the hearing, and the fire escapes outside the windows were filled with all they would hold. Ladders were even put up to the windows and a curious throng hung about the entrance waiting for some word from the proceedings inside. Nearly 200 people were unable to obtain admission.
County Attorney Mason opened the case for the state, laying emphasis on certain inconstancies in the prisoner's statements as to his whereabouts. Small has made a statement that he was dressed in black on that day and it was found that he was not dressed as he stated. A pair of trousers that he had been seen wearing that afternoon has not been found, but a shirt has been found.
As to Small's whereabouts, the state would show that the prisoner had dinner at home around 11;30. Than he and Lincoln Wright went searching wild orchids in the woods. He got two pints of whiskey and drank one assisted in doing so by the Wright boy. He was at home around 1;30 and took a scythe to Warrins. Small went into the Warrin home and Wright went along the road. He spent 20 minutes at Warrins and went back home about two. At 2;10 he was seen coming along the road, passed Warrin's and turned up by Smith's, where he was gone until supper time. On coming home he built a fire for supper, had supper, and at six took his laundry to his mother's. He called at Turnbull's estate at Seal Harbor. Came home at 4;45. Martha and Roger Daves were in the house. He was paid on August 1st, and gave some of his wages to his mother. Some times he carried his money with him and some times he keft it at home. The blood was cleaned up. He searched the house and neighboring fields, and than went to Seal Harbor to see if his mother was there. Guy Small called quite often. He and Small had had some trouble before this. He had accused Small of being a thief and ordered him out of the house. Witness had testified against him in the case when he was accused of breaking into cottages at Seal Harbor, Small claimed that Mrs. Turnbull had entered a complaint against him about a horse he had, some six or seven years ago. Had some trouble with Mrs. Grindle over William Warren. Had driven to Seal Harbor with Warren. Mrs. Grindle gave them calling down and made threats. Trouble with Mrs. Grindle was fixed up. Small called at the Turnbull house around 5;30. He told Small his mother was missing.
Martin Davis testified that he got through work at around 4 o'clock, and came by the Turnbull house around 4;30. He identified the apron. He stayed about 20 minutes and than went home, and came back. He found Greeley Walls there, and they found the body. Davis was practically overcome by the sight.
Greeley Walls testified that he went to the Turnbull house at about seven at the request of Howard Turnbull. When the body was found he called Medical Examiner Morrison and Chief of police Gerry on the phone. He told Guy Small to go and see that no one touched the body. Part of the suit that Small had on was exhibited. He did not recognize the trousers that were exhibited. The trousers that Small had worn the day before were not produced. Mrs. Small said that Guy's pants were missing. The witness had a lively run-in with Attorney Clark where it had been lying in the grass, and identified it.
At this point the hearing adjourned till Friday morning at 9;30.
The testimony Friday morning was along the same lines. Several witnesses testified Small wore light pants that afternoon.
GUY SMALL CONFESSES
October 14, 1916
Bar Harbor times
In Confession To Council And County Attorney The otter Creek Suspect Admits His Guilt
Was Caught By Murdered Woman In House And A Terrible Struggle Followed. Half Killed His victim With A Flat iron, Raped Her, Than Carried Her Body Into The Woods And Completed The Ghastly Work - Gruesome Details Of The Most Revolting Crime Maine Has Ever Known.
That Guy Small of Otter Creek, now held as a prisoner awaiting trial term of court, killed his own aunt, Mrs. Turnbull, crushing in her head with repeated blows of a flatiron; that with the head of his victim half beaten in and dripping with blood all over the floor of her humble home, he raped the half insensible woman, that, completing this action, he put another flatiron in his pocket, and dragging the body to the bushes he completed the ghastly work beating her head to a pulp by repeated blows of the flatiron, than took his departure and burned his bloody clothing; these were the chief points in a confession made by Small to his counsel and County attorney Mason while in jail awaiting the action of the grand jury this week, and admitted by the officials today. It is the closing chapter in the most brutal, sickening and ghastly crime that the most perverse moral degenerate could ever commit. Truth is stranger than fiction. Had such a situation ever been imagined by detective writers, the story would of been called too preposterous and unreal for belief. Yet this is an actual occurrence on the 4th of august last, in a little country village only six miles away from the most fashionable summer resort in the country, and committed in broad daylight on a sunny afternoon only a few feet from the main traveled thoroughfare, where teams and cars are passing every minute or two. to crown his audacity, the murderer called on his victims house only a few hours after the bloody crime was committed and, by an irony of fate, was the very person detailed to guard the body after the crime had been discovered and before the medical examiner had reached there.
From the moment that the crime was first discovered, it has been marked by spectacular features. there was no romantic sidelight to make it more readable. It was from the first, just a sordid tragedy of baseness and brutality, inflamed by the rotgut whiskey that the Maine prohibitory law fosters. It was bloody and brutal in the extreme. Save for the outburst of passion and temper excited by the fumes of alcohol, the fear of discovery, and a mad, unreasoning, lustful wildness, no motive whatever for the crime existed. The case was marked by a vain search for the culprit with bloodhounds and Belgian police dogs, complaints against the county authorities because they took no action for several weeks after the murder, the mysterious disappearance of the clothing worn by the prisoner that day, an attempt to throw the blame upon other suspects, and to cap the climax, a heated argument and publication of letters between the county attorney and the attorney general of the state, weeks after the trail had been held, and just before the state and county election in which the county attorney bitterly criticized the arrest of Small upon what he deemed insufficient evidence. It is understood that it was planned to spring the confession of Small upon the court as a dramatic climax when he was arraigned for trial and that he would be allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter.
It was on Friday evening, august 4th that the body of Mrs. Emma Turnbull, a widow of some 47 years of age, with a number of children, was found in the early part of the evening about 100 feet back of her home, with the back of her head crushed in. The turnbull cottage, a low old fashioned dwelling, lies in a deep valley or ravine about a mile from the Village of Otter Creek, and on the road to Seal Harbor, about half way up a steep winding hill. the house is near the side of the road, plainly visible to passerby,. That afternoon Mrs. turnbull had been out berrying with a neighbor, returning home in the vicinity of 3. She was changing her cloths, as was evidenced by finding her shoes in the kitchen floor and portions of her clothing. About 3;45 her younger son came home, found his mother missing, and a pool of blood about as big as a saucer on the floor. Later her oldest son came home from his work at Seal Harbor. As dark came and their mother had not returned, they became anxious and, supposing that Mrs. Turnbull had cut her hand on a fragment of lamp chimney which was found and had gone to Seal Harbor for a doctor's assistance, they called up the physicians there, but found no trace of her. As dark came on, they called upon the neighbors for assistance. After an extended search Mrs. Turnbulls body was found in the grass and bushes back of her house, with the head smashed in by repeated blows from some heavy instrument. the officials were summoned and an investigation started.
A flatiron covered with blood and hair was found in the grass near the body, evidently the instrument with which the crime was committed. A similar flatiron, also covered with blood, was found in the house. That was one of the mysterious facts brought out at the trial. Why two bloody flatirons? The murderer evidently began his attack in the house, dragged the body to the rear of the building, and than finished the slaughter. When it is considered that the house is in plain sight from the road, on the main line between Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor, the teams and automobiles passing almost every minute, the boldness of the crime becomes more and more wonderful.
According to Small's confession, told to his counsel and to the county attorney, he entered the home of Mrs. Turnbull that afternoon, during her absence, as he supposed. While he would not admit that robbery was the motive, this was presumably the reason for his visit. Small had been in trouble with the authorities on previous occasions. Several years ago he was arraigned for a series of breaks and minor thief from a number of summer cottages at Seal Harbor. He has borne a rather checked reputation as a shiftless, ne'er-do-well in the village, but has never before been accused of anything of this nature. Mrs. turnbull, who had come from her berrying expedition, heard the noise downstairs and came down from her room above, where she had been changing her clothes, about half dressed, to see what the disturbance was. small tried to make his escape and she attempted to prevent it. In the struggle which ensued he lost his head and seized a flatiron, striking her on the head with it and nearly killing her. By his own confession shortly after the crime, and from the testimony of Lincoln Wright, his companion for that afternoon for some hours, small had drank nearly a pint of third rail whiskey before going to the Turnbull house.
After stunning his victim with the flatiron a pause ensued. While the bleeding woman lay insensible on the floor, small probably raped her as she lay there. when asked to this detail he refused to either admit or deny this fact, but would not positively deny it. Than he picked up the body of the victim, carried or dragged it to the bushes and tall grass in the rear of the house and completed his fiendish exploit by smashing in the head with repeated blows of the second flatiron, which he picked up and put in his pocket before carrying out the body.
When it is considered that the murdered woman was his own aunt, the ghastly tragedy in all its sordid and gruesome details takes on an added horror, and adds another count to the indictment that has for many years been found against cheap whiskey in this state.
Small than made his escape and at once went home and burned his bloody clothing. In vew of the heavy traffic on this road, it is surprising that no one happened to meet him in his bloody condition or that no one saw something of the crime.
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