West Virginia Mail-Order Bluebeard
True Crime Historian
Richard O Jones
4.4 • 729 Ratings
🗓️ 29 November 2023
⏱️ 96 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode 243 is the sordid tale of a man who pursued women he presumed were wealthy with long distance love letters in order to swindle them of their money. Yeah, that’s a story we’ve heard before, but this one goes an extra step darker with a gruesome murder of women and children. Consider that your trigger warning. The West Virginia community was so outraged by the crime that the lingering crowds began to worry the police. And for good reason. You’ll want to join them. There are some excellent first-hand accounts of the events of this story, and because the victim was from Chicago, the Tribune sent their ace reporter Genevieve Forbes Herrick to West Virginia to interview the principals. We welcome back Susan Ferman to read Ms. Herrick’s reports. Culled from the historic pages of the Chicago Tribune, Pittsburgh Press and other newspapers of the era.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Popular.com |
| 0:03.0 | Chicago, Illinois, August 27th, 1931. |
| 0:12.5 | Messages were sent to the police through the east last night, asking that a search be made for Mrs. Asta Buick Eicher, a widow, and her three children, Greta, |
| 0:23.5 | 14 years old, Harry, 12, and Annabel, nine, who disappeared from their home at 312 Cedar |
| 0:31.2 | Street, Park Ridge, on June 22nd. At the same time, a search was begun for Cornelius Pearson, operator of an alleged |
| 0:41.1 | matrimonial agency in Fairmont, West Virginia, who wooed the widow by letter and was last seen |
| 0:47.9 | in the Eicher House shortly after the disappearance of the family. It is believed that Pearson |
| 0:53.9 | may be somewhere in West Virginia. |
| 0:56.0 | Late last night, Chief Duckworth of Clarksville, West Virginia, |
| 1:01.0 | wired Police Chief Johnson of Park Ridge that he expected to arrest the man shortly. |
| 1:07.0 | Pearson is wanted for questioning, police say. |
| 1:10.0 | Information in their hands, they state, |
| 1:13.1 | associate him with the last known movements of the Iker family. |
| 1:17.5 | Chief Johnson and Mayor William McKee, who are directing the investigation, |
| 1:22.4 | declined to discuss the importance they attach to his apprehension. |
| 1:27.4 | The West Virginia was last seen in the Iker home a week ago. |
| 1:31.6 | At that time, Chief Johnson inspected the house. He found, he said, the place stripped, with furniture |
| 1:38.7 | and personal belongings being packed in the garage in the rear. Pearson, or a man who identified himself as such, produced a letter purporting to be from |
| 1:49.0 | Mrs. Iker, authorizing him to dispose of her furniture. |
| 1:53.0 | To this, he added, Mrs. Iker has gone away, I'm going to marry her. |
| 1:58.0 | Having no evidence to place the man in custody, Chief Johnson ordered him |
| 2:02.8 | to report at the station for further interrogation the next day, but Pearson failed to appear. |
... |
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