WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:14.240 Paul Buler calm Bacon on the table. The Brutal Murder 2 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:20.760 of Mamie Sherman a true crime short story by Richard O. Jones. 3 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:29.280 Mamie Sherman was not anxious to share the news with 4 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.479 her husband. She had gotten a job offer to be 5 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:36.280 a telegraph operator at the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway, 6 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:39.920 the c CH and D station in Glendale, a job 7 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.600 that paid twenty five dollars a month and a chance 8 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:47.280 for advancement, but she worried, knowing that her husband would 9 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.240 not take it well. She had only been married to 10 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.520 Charles Victor Sherman for just over a year, but she 11 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.719 knew that he was a jealous man and did not 12 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:59.320 want her to work. They'd been going around and around 13 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:02.000 about it, and she'd been trying to find a good 14 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:05.400 way to break the news to him. When the iceman, 15 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.959 William Brock came around about ten am to make his 16 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:13.200 daily delivery, Mamie was not at home. He found her 17 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:15.959 a few doors down talking to a neighbor, and they 18 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.599 walked back to her house together. She seemed angry about 19 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:23.159 something and remarked, there will be hell here again tonight. 20 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.719 What do you mean The Iceman asked, and she told 21 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:30.239 him about the job offer. He told her, you should 22 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:33.760 just stay at home. Then Charlie makes money enough. I 23 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:37.359 don't care what he thinks, she said. Brock noticed that 24 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.599 the hatchet the Shermans normally kept near the ice box 25 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.640 was not in its usual spot. He didn't see it anywhere. 26 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.319 Mamie did not have to worry about how to break 27 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:53.560 the news to Charlie. You already knew Sherman was a 28 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:56.599 Sherman was a switchman at the ch and d Yard 29 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.920 in Hamilton, Ohio, a few blocks from where they lived 30 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:03.120 at four to one seven Sycamore Street, just around the 31 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:06.959 corner from where Alfred Knapp had strangled his wife Hannah 32 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:11.360 in her sleep two years earlier. About two pm on 33 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:15.840 the afternoon of August twenty fourth, nineteen oh four, two 34 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.280 days after Maymie's thirty first birthday, and a week after 35 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:22.759 Napp had paid the price for his crime in the 36 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:27.719 electric chair at the Ohio State Penitentiary, Sherman was working 37 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.199 in the yard when he received a message from the 38 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:35.199 chief dispatcher in Dayton, Joe Hoffman, asking if Mamie would 39 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:38.120 consider taking a job as the second operator at the 40 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:42.400 Hamilton station instead of going to Glendale. He knew from 41 00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:45.400 the message that Mamie had gone behind his back looking 42 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:49.199 for work, and he didn't like that. For one thing, 43 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:53.919 her ex husband, Charles Steddding, was a telegraph operator at 44 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:57.360 the Glendale station, and he didn't want her being around him. 45 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:00.439 He didn't want her to be around any other man. 46 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:03.919 She was his wife now, and he insisted that she 47 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:07.240 would keep his house. He made a good seventy five 48 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:11.039 dollars a month, sometimes more. There was no need for 49 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:15.520 her to work. Sherman would later say, I walked up 50 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.240 to the telegraph office and told the operator that I 51 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:22.520 could answer that message myself and say no, she couldn't work. 52 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.319 He then walked the block to their house and found 53 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:30.080 Mamie standing at the back fence talking to a neighbor, 54 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:34.280 Mabel Bunning. He asked her, why do you persist in 55 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:36.479 wanting to work when you know I don't want you to. 56 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:39.680 She said, we need the money, and the twenty five 57 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:42.280 dollars would be as good for me as for anybody. 58 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.960 He shouted at her, I can't keep you from working. 59 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:48.960 If you go over there, you will be working for yourself. 60 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:51.960 He wanted to fuss some more, but he heard his 61 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.840 train coming from the south. They would talk about this later. 62 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.360 He told her, Yeah, work to do. He ran to 63 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.199 catch the trae and rode across the belt line to 64 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:06.199 the Champion Coated paper Mill. There will be trouble here tonight, 65 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:10.080 Mamie told missus Bunting. So she decided to cook a 66 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:14.560 nice dinner of his favorite foods, fried bacon and stewed corn. 67 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.439 She had the table nicely set and placed a cloth 68 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:21.360 over the dishes on the table to await his arrival. 69 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:25.519 Mamie was a pretty brunette, but a big girl, a 70 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:29.040 muscular five feet nine inches one hundred and seventy pounds. 71 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:32.720 Her neighbors knew or as a good housekeeper who kept 72 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:36.800 their home neatly furnished and immaculately clean, always in the 73 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:41.040 best of order. Born Eva May Connery and Buyer's Junction, 74 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:46.439 Jackson County, Ohio, her father was the postmaster and station agent. 75 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:50.160 She picked up the nickname Mamie at age twelve and 76 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:54.199 started using it as her proper name. She was married 77 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.360 briefly to a boy named Dobbs at sixteen, but returned 78 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:03.319 home a month later, and before she turned seventeen. Her 79 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.319 father trained her in the telegraphy trade. When she was 80 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:12.279 twenty four, she came to Cincinnati to work. She married 81 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:16.600 Charles Stettings, a coworker at the Eighth Street Telegraph Office. 82 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:20.360 They were happy for a few years. Then she took 83 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:23.279 a job at the Hamilton Depot and found a room 84 00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:27.360 in a boarding house on Fourth Street, between Sycamore and Ludlow. 85 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.759 There she met Charles Sherman. Stettings agreed to an amical divorce. 86 00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:37.319 He and Mami got along well, but he could see 87 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:40.519 that she was infatuated with this other man and he 88 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:44.639 did not want to impede her happiness. Mami and Charles 89 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:49.319 Sherman married on June seventeenth, nineteen o three. They were 90 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:53.759 both thirty years old. Steadings helped her pack and moved 91 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:57.360 to Hamilton in a house at East Avenue in Chestnut Street. 92 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:01.680 The Shermans moved to the Sycamore Street house on January 93 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:06.319 twenty first, nineteen oh four, and that's when their troubles started. 94 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:12.079 As neat and tidy as Mamie was, Sherman demanded more. 95 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.600 While changing clothes one night after work, he berated her 96 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:20.439 about the sloppy way she made the bed. If you 97 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:24.079 don't like it, find yourself someplace else to sleep, she said. 98 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:27.839 As she stormed down the stairs. She snapped, I'm getting 99 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:30.720 tired of you anyhow. If you don't leave, I might. 100 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.639 Sherman finished changing his clothes and followed her to find 101 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:39.399 she had locked herself in the kitchen. He went out 102 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:41.560 the front door and walked around the house to come 103 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:44.600 in through the back door. As he walked in, she 104 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:47.720 brandished a poker at him. What are you going to 105 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:50.759 do with that, he demanded. I'm going to kill you 106 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:53.439 if you lay hands on me. She yelled. What have 107 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:56.079 I done that you treat me like this? He asked. 108 00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:59.000 I'm tired of the way you treat me, she said, 109 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:02.839 putting down the poker and sitting in a chair, exasperated, 110 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:07.279 You're always finding fault with me. Sherman went to her, 111 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.480 got on his knees and asked her not to leave him. 112 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:13.800 He told her that they got along together and he 113 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:17.199 would do more to help her out, sweet talking until 114 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:20.319 he got her in a better mood. Then they went 115 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:24.240 upstairs for sex, but she was still distant and didn't 116 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:27.920 speak to him for the rest of the night. Along 117 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.879 about May and June, Sherman's mother, Mary, came for a 118 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:36.360 long visit, but she and Mamie didn't get along. They 119 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.959 eventually came to blows. Sherman was walking home after work, 120 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:44.480 and as he turned the corner onto Sycamore Street, Mami 121 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:50.439 came running out of the house. She cried, vic, either 122 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:53.040 me or your mother's got to leave for good. She 123 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.920 hit me over the head with the club we're at, 124 00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:02.920 Sherman asked suspiciously. She pulled the hair back off her forehead. Well, 125 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:07.319 I don't see anything. Well, either she goes or I do, 126 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:12.040 Mamie said. In recounting the story later, at his trial 127 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:16.240 for his wife's murder, Sherman said that he reassured her 128 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:19.079 that if anyone would go, it would be his mother. 129 00:08:19.959 --> 00:08:22.519 As much as he loved his mother, he said his 130 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:26.680 loyalty would always be to his wife. When they got 131 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:30.319 back in the house, Sherman asked his mother about the trouble. 132 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:34.440 Mother laid it all on Mamie, saying that they got 133 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:37.519 into a fuss about how to beat a carpet. She 134 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.279 said Mamie pushed her down and hit her with the club, 135 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:45.840 breaking her arm. He examined it. The arm was bruised, 136 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.000 so Sherman took her to see a doctor, and then 137 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:52.039 called his brother ed in Indiana to come and get 138 00:08:52.080 --> 00:09:02.759 their mother take her back home. While Mami busied herself 139 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:05.519 making some of her husband's favorite foods in the hope 140 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:08.720 of mending the rift between them and getting his permission 141 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:12.159 to take the job, Sherman got the engine back in 142 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:14.919 his house and got back to the yard about five 143 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:20.159 thirty pm. He confronted the telegraph operator, Campbell. What did 144 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:24.000 my wife telegraph to Hoffman, he asked. Campbell said he 145 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:26.360 did not know that he was in the baggage room. 146 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.720 When she answered, Sherman gave Campbell a tearing out for 147 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.480 helping his wife look for work, told him to mind 148 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.600 his own business. When his shift ended at six pm, 149 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.000 he went straight home, eager to put an end to 150 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:43.440 this nonsense. Mamy did not come out to meet him 151 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:46.279 as she usually did, and that just made him matter. 152 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:49.759 He walked around back and entered through the kitchen door, 153 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.639 took off his coat and shoes, and put on his 154 00:09:52.679 --> 00:09:56.039 house slippers. He started across the kitchen to wash up 155 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:58.840 at the sink and heard his wife call out from 156 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:03.720 the parlor asking if he was ready for supper. Not yet, 157 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:07.799 he shouted back. He dried his hands and walked into 158 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:10.960 the dining room just as Mamie walked in the other door. 159 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:15.840 Are you ready for supper? She asked again? Not yet, 160 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:19.840 he said again, well, hurry up, she said she wanted 161 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:23.600 to go to the Eagles picnic at Lindenwall Park. He 162 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:27.799 wanted to finish the fuss he had started earlier. Why 163 00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:30.080 do you persist in wanting to work when you know 164 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:33.240 I don't want you to, he asked her again, exactly 165 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:39.960 as he had that afternoon. Did you give him an answer? Yes, 166 00:10:40.039 --> 00:10:42.679 she said, I'm taking the job and it's none of 167 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:47.240 your business. I told you not to work, he said, now, 168 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:53.279 I will show you. During his confession in the hospital 169 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:56.759 later that night, perhaps before he had time to think 170 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:01.720 about illegal defense, Sherman told Least Chief Sip that she 171 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:04.840 didn't say anything, but gave him a look that he 172 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:07.960 took as a sneer, and that was all he could take. 173 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:11.200 He hit her in the face with his fist as 174 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:15.200 hard as he could. Mami fell to the dining room floor, 175 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:18.759 and he went after her, striking her again and again 176 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.679 in the face until he felt it in his knuckles. 177 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:26.759 Then he started to choke her. She kicked and sputtered, 178 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:29.759 and after a long, painful moment, he let her go 179 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:35.159 while he paced the floor fuming. She struggled to her feet. 180 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:38.600 Before she could get all the way up, Sherman picked 181 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:41.200 up one of the oak dining room chairs and struck 182 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:44.639 her with it. She went back down, and he hit 183 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:49.159 her with the chair until it broke into pieces. In 184 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:53.000 this version of his story, Sherman was still boiling and 185 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:55.639 stormed out of the house and to the coal shed 186 00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:59.200 out back. He grabbed a hatchet and came back into 187 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:03.240 the dining room. Mamie was leaning back in a corner 188 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:07.080 between the dish closet and the clothes closet. He struck 189 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:10.600 her on top of the head. When she fell forward, 190 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:13.480 he hit her again at the base of her skull. 191 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:17.600 The corner would later say that either of the blows 192 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:22.720 would have been sufficient, but Sherman was still in a rage. 193 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:25.600 He said he did not remember taking a pocket knife 194 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:29.480 from his work pants, nor stabbing his wife several times 195 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:33.080 in the back, nor rolling her over to slash each 196 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:37.279 side of her throat. He said he did not remember 197 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:47.759 taking the knife to himself. The battle in the Sherman's 198 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:51.039 dining room had caused enough of a ruckus to attract 199 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:54.159 the neighbors, and missus Eee ran to the home of 200 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:58.039 Mayor Charles Bosch on South fourth Street to block away, 201 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.360 just next door to the house where Alfred Knapp strangled 202 00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:05.720 his wife. The mayor and his wife were sitting on 203 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:09.639 the porch and watched missus Eee run past the house, 204 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:12.960 coming to a sudden stop when she realized she had 205 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:18.159 passed her destination and turned around excitedly telling the mayor 206 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:22.519 that her neighbor was either killing or had killed his wife. 207 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.360 Bosh grabbed his coat and hat and ran ahead of 208 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:30.000 missus Eely. He knocked at the front door of the 209 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.759 Sherman home, but the house was dark and no one answered, 210 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:37.279 so he went to the side door and then tried 211 00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:40.240 the windows, all the time trying to get the attention 212 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:43.679 of someone inside. He went all the way around to 213 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.759 the kitchen door, who was unlocked, but just as Boss 214 00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:51.559 turned the knob and started to push it open, Jack Walsh, 215 00:13:51.879 --> 00:13:54.159 one of the neighbors in the crowd that had gathered 216 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:57.799 around the yard, said don't go in there, Mayor, you 217 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:01.519 don't know what might happen. I'd stay out. It sounded 218 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:04.519 like good advice, so Bosh asked where he could find 219 00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:09.200 a telephone. Next door, said someone else, and without looking 220 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:13.200 for a gate, Boss jumped the fence, went directly inside 221 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.600 and called up police headquarters and ordered a wagon with 222 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:21.000 as many officers as were available, without giving any details. 223 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:25.240 But the alarm had already been raised, and when Bosh 224 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:29.320 returned to the Sherman House, patrolman Joe Kramer and John 225 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:33.600 Dooley had just derived. Bosh told Dooley to cover the 226 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.960 back door while he and Kramer went in the front. 227 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:42.080 The parlor was empty, the dining room, curtains drawn, was 228 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:47.039 empty and in total darkness. Dooley came in from the kitchen, 229 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:53.399 paused his eyes adjusting. Bosch spied a pair of legs 230 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:58.000 lying alongside the dining room table. Here it is boys, 231 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:01.159 strike a match, he said, as he fished one out 232 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:05.639 of his pocket. He and Cramer both lit matches, enough 233 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.200 light for them to see a man lying in a 234 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:14.000 pool of blood, apparently dead. In the opposite corner, a 235 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:18.240 woman was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the wall, 236 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:25.399 definitely dead. Her hair disheveled and matted with gore partly 237 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.080 covered her face, but he could see her mouth hanging open. 238 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:34.039 Dripping blood, her hands folded in her lap, her clothes 239 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:37.639 were soaked, her dress drawn up to her knees, and 240 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:42.279 the walls surrounding her streaked and splattered with blood nearly 241 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:49.240 to the ceiling. Maimie Sherman's injuries were frightful. Her face 242 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:53.440 was a battered mass of bone and bruised tissue, her 243 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:57.240 nose mashed in even with the blackened eye sockets, and 244 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:02.279 her right eye dangling on her cheek. Long gashes marred 245 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:06.320 the top and back of her head. The post mortem 246 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:10.120 would reveal she had four fractures of the skull, any 247 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.799 one of which could have caused death, along with seven 248 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:16.840 knife wounds in her back under the right shoulder blade 249 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:21.200 and a slash on each side of her throat. Her 250 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:25.279 arms were blue from the elbow down, probably from trying 251 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:30.440 to deflect blows. Her hands slashed and stabbed through as 252 00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:35.639 if she had grabbed the blade. As Mayor Bosh took 253 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:38.879 in the horror, he heard the rumble of the police 254 00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:42.799 ambulance coming up in front of the house. He also 255 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:46.960 heard the voice of Charles Sherman saying, isn't this a 256 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:52.679 nice thing to walk into? Just then, Police Chief Jacob's 257 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:57.000 Sip and police surgeon doctor William C. Houston entered the 258 00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:00.879 room with lanterns. The doctor took charge of the scene, 259 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:07.359 putting pressure on Sherman's profusely bleeding wounds. See what jealousy 260 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.359 will do. The bleeding man said, this happened because I 261 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:14.440 didn't want her to take a job she was well 262 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:19.799 provided for, but she just wouldn't listen to me. Coroner 263 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:24.440 Thomas D. Shark He soon arrived, pronounced Mamy Sherman dead 264 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.960 and instructed the drivers to take her remains to Albert 265 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:33.359 Wagner's morgue on Ludlow Street. Before they carried his body out, 266 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:37.799 Charles Sherman told Chief Sip, I hit her with my fist, 267 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:40.640 I hit her with a chair, and then I hit 268 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:44.759 her with a hatchet. The chief asked, did you use 269 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:52.039 a knife? Sherman replied, I think I did. Doctor Houston 270 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.839 accompanied Sherman on the ride to Mercy Hospital, keeping his 271 00:17:55.960 --> 00:17:59.759 hands on the dead man's throat wounds. Is my wife, 272 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:05.640 he asked? Yes. Houston said she's dead, then there's no 273 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:08.839 sewing me up. He said, I might as well be 274 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:13.480 dead too, Yes, you might as well be dead. The 275 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:18.759 doctor said, they'll get you Anyhow, Sherman looked down at 276 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:22.079 his hands covered with blood and clumps of his wife's 277 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:26.920 hair matted with gore. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, 278 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:30.880 he handed the clump over to an attendant. In the 279 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.759 good light of the hospital, Doctor Houston took inventory of 280 00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:39.319 Sherman's wounds, finding them not as serious as they first appeared. 281 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:43.319 Five stabs in the left breast over the heart, and 282 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:47.039 a puncture wound on each side of the throat. Although 283 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:49.880 there was a lot of blood, the cuts were all 284 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:55.599 shallow and none of them serious. After his wounds were dressed, 285 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.799 Coroner shark He ordered that he'd be placed in a 286 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:02.880 strait jacket to keep from from doing more damage to himself. 287 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.599 At ten pm, Chief SIPs summoned police clerk Frank Clements 288 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:17.160 to take down Charles Victor Sherman's confession. Sherman's attorneys, Bickley 289 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:21.240 and Bickley made the unusual decision to claim the brutal 290 00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:26.039 murder was an act of self defense. Attorney U. F. 291 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:29.079 Bickley always referred to the victim by her birth name, 292 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:34.000 Eva May Connery, and called witnesses, some from her hometown 293 00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:38.119 of Buyers Station and some former co workers, who said 294 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:41.000 that she was a woman of high temper, of a 295 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:47.400 violent quarrelsome disagreeable disposition, and of questionable moral character. According 296 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:51.599 to the Hamilton Daily Republican, there were animations that she 297 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:55.359 drank to excess, but objections to that sort of testimony 298 00:19:55.400 --> 00:20:01.079 were consistently sustained. No one testified to the contrary. Other 299 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:05.400 witnesses testified as to the upright character and even temperament 300 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:09.440 of Charles Victor Sherman, that he was a perfect gentleman, 301 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.960 known as a peaceable, quiet and law abiding citizen, though 302 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:17.680 most of them admitted under cross examination that they did 303 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:21.079 not know anything about the defendant's home life nor his 304 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:26.799 relationship with the victim. During his testimony, Sherman told a 305 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.039 story that matched his earlier confession until he got to 306 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:35.319 the part about their dining room showdown. Mami was impatient 307 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:38.079 because she wanted to go to the Eagle's picnic, and 308 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.720 when he brought up the subject of the job, she 309 00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:44.000 struck him on the nose with her fist, then picked 310 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.960 up a poker from the stove and came at him swinging. 311 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:49.960 He caught a blow on his arm and she swung 312 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:53.319 it again. This time he grabbed it and punched her 313 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:57.160 in the face. They exchanged blows again and she fell 314 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.640 to the ground. He grabbed her by the throat and 315 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:04.440 told her to drop the poker. I won't drop it 316 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:07.359 until I kill you with it. She croaked, and he 317 00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:11.200 tightened his grip until she dropped it. When he let 318 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:14.359 her go, she ran to the sideboard and grabbed a 319 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:18.279 straight razor. They wrestled over that for a while, and 320 00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:20.319 he finally got it away from her and put it 321 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:23.920 back in the drawer. While he was doing that, she 322 00:21:24.039 --> 00:21:26.799 grabbed the hatchet from the ice chest and came at 323 00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:30.359 him again. He grabbed one of the kitchen chairs to 324 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:33.759 protect himself, but then she made as if to throw 325 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:37.400 the hatchet, so he swung the chair at her, but missed, 326 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:42.799 and the chair shattered to pieces against the stove. Mamie 327 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:46.039 swung the hatchet at him again and connected with a 328 00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:49.920 glancing blow to the side of his head. He succeeded 329 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:51.960 in knocking it out of her hand, and when he 330 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:54.440 went to retrieve it, she picked up the poker again. 331 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.960 He testified quote, she started at me, and when I 332 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:02.440 grabbed her, shoved into the corner. Her head struck a 333 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.759 door jam and she sank to the floor. I took 334 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.799 out my knife, cut my throat on one side, and 335 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:12.480 went out on the porch and called missus Bunning. Then 336 00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:15.200 I went back into the room cut my throat on 337 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:18.519 the other side, and that's the last thing I remember. 338 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.880 Sherman testified that he could not remember anything that happened 339 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:27.960 after attempting to cut his own throat, neither in the 340 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.640 home nor in the hospital. He said that coroner's shark 341 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:34.160 he came to him the next day with a typewritten 342 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:37.680 piece of paper, and that he said was his statement. 343 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:41.680 Sherman said he refused to sign it, and his legal 344 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:45.440 counsel advised him not to say anything else until the trial, 345 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:48.720 and that's why he never mentioned that his wife attacked him, 346 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:54.319 and he was only defending himself. During cross examination, his 347 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:58.839 most frequent answer was I don't remember, particularly in regard 348 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:02.720 to his earlier confessions. He did not remember seeing the 349 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:05.599 corner that night and did not remember talking to the 350 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:09.400 chief of police in the presence of a stenographer. He 351 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:12.000 denied ever striking his wife over the head with the 352 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:16.440 chair and denied having struck her with the hatchet. He 353 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:19.519 could not account for the cuts on her back and throat. 354 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:23.880 The Daily Republican News wrote quote remarks dropped in the 355 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:27.519 course of the cross examination and afterward by persons present, 356 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.640 seemed to show that the general impression was that Sherman's story, 357 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:38.279 while well adhered to, was rather thin unquote. The defense 358 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:41.720 called doctor G. A. Herman to the stand to testify 359 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:45.000 about tending to the broken arm of Mary Sherman, who 360 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:48.000 he guessed was sixty five to sixty eight years old. 361 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:53.920 The mother only testified through deposition. Doctor Herman said that 362 00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:56.759 he was dressing it as he would any ordinary fracture, 363 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:01.519 and overheard Maimie and Charles fussing that settles it. He 364 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:04.119 heard made me say, I am not going to live 365 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.039 with you. If anyone leaves, it will be mother, Sherman said. 366 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:11.400 Sherman had the doctor make arrangements to send the old 367 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.599 woman to the hospital in Oxford, where another of her 368 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:19.839 sons would pick her up. The jury deliberated for five hours, 369 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.160 rendering a verdict of guilty of second degree murder, having 370 00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:31.000 found no proof of premeditation. Charles Victor Sherman received a 371 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:34.319 life sentence for the murder of his wife, but he 372 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:38.440 did not stay in jail long. He was never granted 373 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.119 another trial, but his friends and family lobbied hard to 374 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:46.799 have him pardoned. In nineteen eleven, just six years after 375 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:52.000 his conviction, Ohio Governor Harmon named Charles Victor Sherman his 376 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.319 Thanksgiving pardon as the result of a plea submitted by 377 00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:01.359 his family and endorsed by several well known Indiana politicians, 378 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:07.599 including the sitting lieutenant governor and a former congressman. The 379 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:11.640 press release announcing his pardon was filled with factual airs 380 00:25:12.119 --> 00:25:14.960 and painted the man in quite a different light than 381 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:18.920 the reports of his arrest and trial. Describing the murder 382 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:22.440 thus quote, one evening, he attempted to caress her, and 383 00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:26.559 she struck him. A quarrel ensued, during which he picked 384 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:32.119 up a chair and felled her. The blow killed her unquote. 385 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.240 The conviction, the press release said, was the consequence of 386 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:41.799 the backlash over the crimes committed by the strangler, Alfred Knapp. Quote. 387 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:46.480 Sherman's trial occurred when the public mind was inflamed, and 388 00:25:46.519 --> 00:25:49.680 as a consequence, he was convicted of a more serious 389 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:52.480 degree than he would have been at some other time, 390 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:58.160 it said. The evening journal reported that local officials quote 391 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:01.319 did not look upon the part Garden with much favor, 392 00:26:04.359 --> 00:26:07.880 Sherman did not come back to Hamilton. By the time 393 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.559 World War I came around, Sherman was out of prison 394 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.200 and registered for the draft. At the time, he was 395 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:18.799 living with his sister in Lansing, Michigan, and working for 396 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:22.880 an autobody company. He had already served in the infantry 397 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:26.440 for seven months in eighteen ninety eight during the Spanish 398 00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:31.000 American War. It's not clear whether he saw any action, 399 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:34.359 but he did enter a home for disabled veterans in 400 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:38.759 Los Angeles in nineteen twenty eight, citing asthma and poor 401 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:43.960