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a kerosene MURDER

Our first case takes place on May 29th in 1874 and you guessed it… A KEROSENE MURDER takes place in Toledo, Ohio, in the fifth ward.  

Mrs. Charles Hoover made a fire this morning in a wood stove, and after the kindling blazed poured on coal oil from a large can, thinking it would hasten the burning of an obstinate fire.

This resulted in an explosion and Mrs. Charles Hoover was fatally burned, as you can imagine. 

Her husband, Charles, immediately covered her over with a feather-bed, and many pails of water were used before the fire could be put out.  Mrs. Hoover’s front clothing was burned entirely off, as also her person from head to foot. The flesh from her upper parts was burned off to the naked bone. She did not live to see the morning, leaving behind four children and a nursing baby. Mr. Hoover, in his endeavors to save his wife, was also badly burned. 

choked to death

Our second case is one that we unfortunately hear far too often in the Toledo, Ohio area. 

We are going back to September 2, 1895 in Monroe, Michigan with the case of “Choked to Death” . 

We find Mrs. Jane Merrill, a wealthy colored woman of Monroe, Michigan missing. She had been missing since July 5th, 1895. 

By September 7th, 1895, the mystery of her disappearance was cleared up by the discovery of the badly decomposed body of Mrs. Merrill in a brush heap on the farm. 

John Larkins was immediately arrested for MURDER.

September 14, 1895 found new evidence against Enos Larkins who was suspected of forging and murdering Mrs. Jane Merrill was received by John O. Zabel, lawyer in regards to a letter purporting to have been written by Mrs. Jane Morrill, Larkins’ alleged victim, of Perrysburg, Ohio on September 3rd. The letter stated that Mrs. Merrill had married John Adams and she did not care for her pension any longer and would turn over the balance to Enos Larkins. She also turned over to Larkins a note against a Petersburg man. It is known that Enos was in Petersburg on September 2nd, making him a prime suspect. 

On September 22, 1895 Mrs. Enos Larkins confesses that she killed Mrs. Jane Merrill, her husband’s benefactor, whose bones were found in a funeral pyre built to hide the evidences of the crime. 

Mrs. Larkins says that Mrs. Merrill came to her house in the evening to collect rent, and abused both Mr. and Mrs. Larkins. 

Mrs. Larkins started a quarrel with Mrs. Jane Merrill and threw a stick of wood, striking Mrs. Merrill on the side of the head, killing her instantly. 

Then, Enos dragged the body to the woods where a grave was dug that very night. The body was finally buried in the woods a few days after the incident occurred. 

Mrs. Merrill’s household goods were moved out of the Merrill house to make people think she had moved away. Mrs. Larkins admits to impersonating the murdered woman, writing the lease mortgage to John A. Zabel, signing Mrs. Merrill’s name, asking him to turn over all her papers in his possession to Enos Larkins. 

On September 26th, 1895, Mrs. Enos Larkins, wife of Enos Larkins, made her confession, which detectives find some truth to it. Mrs. Larkins has, at this point, make several confessions, but the last has already been verified in many details and is rendered as authentic. 

Mrs. Larkins gives more details, such as stating the murder was premeditated, instead of just a result of a quarrel and that the crime was actually committed on June 24th instead of July 5th. 

It was also found that the hole dug for Mrs. Merrill’s body was dug well in advance to the murder. 

On the afternoon of June 24th, Mrs. Merrill, also referred to as “old lady” came to the Larkins’ Home to collect some money, while Enos Larkins, on the pretense of showing Mrs. Merrill a huge turkey’s nest, got her to go out into the woods with him. 

While out there, he choked her to death and then started a fire in a brush heap and burned the body to a crisp. Enos then gathered the bones together and brought them o the house and again burned them. The remains were put in a three-gallon crock and placed outside of the Larkin’s doorstep, where Sheriff Mills found them on that fateful day in early September. 

We are back in October 23, 1895…

Mr. and Mrs. Enos Larkins are in jail suspected of murdering Mrs. Jane Morrill near Monroe, Michigan, just outside of Toledo, Ohio. They confessed to this murder which resulted in Mr. Larkins being separated from his wife for days, until he passed her some notes , which were seized. What officers found in these notes was so incriminating that Mr. Larkin broke down and made a confession. His confession was different from the details his wife had given, which obviously shows both of their guilt in this murder. 

Mrs. Larkins maintained that Mr. Larkins had choked Mrs. Merrill to death while she stood by and witnessed the crime. Mr. Larkins swears Mrs. Larkin beat “the old woman’s head with a stick until she was dead…”

Mrs. Morrill had been informed of a turkey's nest and had gone Mr. and Mrs. Larkins to the supposed location of the nest on the evening of September 29th 1895. 

The afternoon prior to the 29th, Mr. Larkins had dug a grave for Mrs. Morrill. 

After Mrs. Morrill’s death, Mrs. Larkins insisted on cremating the body. A brush heap was built and the body was partially burned. 

Mr. Larkins was adamant that Mrs. Larkins was guilty of the murder of TWO of her children before he married her. At the time of their marriage, Mrs. Larkins had a baby of six months old. This child was given into the care of her sister, Mrs. Lizzie Simpson, now in Pittsburg, PA.  At that place this very child has since died. 

In November (Nov 22, 1895) The Larkins case in Monroe, Michigan had finally come to a close. Mrs. Larkins twins were placed in the care of an Aunt. Mrs. Larkins was sentenced to Jackson Prison FOR LIFE by Judge Kinne for the murder of Mrs. Jane Merrill. Mrs. Larkins was taken to prison at once.

WHAT A STORY!

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More From Time Travel in Toledo, Ohio

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