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I'm your host, Mark.
And I'm Courtney.
And this is Mountain State Mysteries.
Today, we want to tell you the story of a man who lured his victims through the lonely heart advertisements.
Klaymenki was looking for love, but ultimately murdering them for their money.
This is part one of serial killer Harry Powers story.
Throughout Harry's life, he had a few aliases, and we will be referring to him under those aliases as we tell his story.
Harry Powers was born as Harm Drenth in 1893 in Beerta, Holland.
Growing up, people noticed that Harm was a compulsive liar, being known for trespassing on neighbors property, stealing and consuming alcohol.
In April of 1910, his family sent him to the United States on a ship with the Baker family.
They wanted Harm to become independent by working on a farm with another family they knew.
Harm first lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
In spring of 1910, Harm worked at the Ross farm, but left complaining of his boss telling him what to do.
On March 21, 1911, Harm's parents immigrated to the United States.
Sometime after that, Harm was arrested for stealing liquor.
The Drenth family Americanized their first names and Harm became Herman.
Herman started to learn English and became very fluent in it, thus making him bilingual.
In 1917, at the age of 25, Herman's family left their Dutch community in Iowa and moved 250 miles north and bought 40 acres of land.
Once again, Herman was forced to become dependent upon himself.
In 1918, Herman started using the name Harry F. Powers and him and his 22-year-old wife moved to Madison, Wisconsin.
Sadly, not much is known about his wife other than she had blonde hair and that the two of them lived in a hotel and owned a small dog.
In Madison, Harry and his wife turned into a Bonnie and Clyde duo.
They stole a car but were soon arrested afterwards.
The car was stolen around one in the morning and was abandoned in Columbus because the car stalled in the mud.
The couple took a train to Port of Twettsconson where they were arrested and brought to the county jail where they pled not guilty in front of the judge.
Harry was given a $2,000 bond while his wife was given a $500 bond.
Harry couldn't post his bail but his wife could.
While Harry was in jail, his wife would visit him often and sneak in tools for him to escape with.
On the 9th of June, 27th, 1919, Harry and another inmate, Walter Barkowski, escaped from the Dale County Jail.
Harry's wife was waiting for them outside of the jail and the three of them escaped, never to be caught by police.
In 1921, Harry developed an attachment with 20-year-old Rose Strickland.
We aren't sure if Rose felt the same way about Harry or not.
Rose later got married to another man.
Out of pure shock, Harry raged.
He found out the two were on vacation and broke into their home and stole several personal items of theirs.
He tried to start a fire but the fire did not take so Harry left their home.
Seeing what happened, a neighbor of Rose and her husband wrote down the license plate number and called the police.
Harry was arrested and convicted in 1921.
In 1922, Harry was released from the Wisconsin State Prison after serving less than 15 months in prison.
After he was released, he dropped out of sight and was never seen by his family again.
Not having any contact with his family, Harry needed to find a way to start making money.
He decided to become a participant in what is called the Widow's Racket.
It's basically the practice of praying on women through matrimonial services.
Harry would meet lonely women and con them out of their money.
Under the alias of Joseph Gildow, he married Mrs. Allie Provence, who was 50.
Soon after becoming married, he served Allie a cup of coffee with sleeping powder in it.
He then went to her house and disappeared with some of her valuables.
When she woke up and came to, she realized what happened.
She took out a warrant on him but he was never arrested.
In 1924, Harry moved to Ram, Minnesota.
Not much is known about his time there.
Then in the same year, he moved to Cambridge, Ohio.
Harry and Mrs. Powers were arrested for grand larceny of three lakes, Wisconsin garage.
Friends of theirs posted their bond.
They both ended up failing to appear for their court date and fortified their bond.
In December of 1924, under the alias of Joseph Gildow, he was arrested in Mansfield, Ohio
when he tried to sell some articles that a secondhand dealer thought were stolen.
In 1925, under the alias of Joseph Gildow, he met Lena Fellows of Hammond, Indiana.
After a short time he proposed, then Lena took the money off her account and bought a car so they could take a road trip.
While on the trip, they stopped at a gas station in Chicago, Illinois to fill up the car.
He suggested to Lena that she take off her two diamond rings worth about $1,000
and place them in a suitcase in the trunk of the car.
The suitcase also contained $2,000 worth of loan shares that he told her he didn't want her to lose to them in case there was a robbery.
After closing the trunk, Harry handed her a letter to Mel.
While Lena was around the corner, Harry, the car, rings and loan shares were all gone.
The Chicago Heights place caught up with Harry in Mansfield, Ohio and he was taken back to Chicago
and on April 19, 1925 was brought before a grand jury to face grand larceny charges.
During the time he was on the run, he sold the car, rings and the stocks and spent all of Lena's money.
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In this suitcase, there were dozens of love letters from different women.
They were kept at the police station and Harry asked if he could have them back after he was released.
Harry was asked how he was acquitted and he just smiled and said,
I've got a smart lawyer who convinced the jury I didn't steal the stuff that Mrs. Fellows gave it to me.
In 1926, Harry was arrested for selling vacuum cleaners from the Eureka Company.
In 1927, Harry married Luella Blench Strother in Oakland, Maryland.
He moved in with Luella and her sister in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Life as newlyweds didn't go as well as Luella hoped it would.
Despite his wife's fortune from owning a grocery store, Harry wasn't as happy as she hoped he would be.
Harry got a job working as a salesman for the Eureka vacuum cleaning company.
In all honesty, Harry wasn't in it for the money. Why did he need a paycheck when crime can make him a good living like before?
In 1928, Harry's manager, Dudley C. Wade, disappeared.
Harry ended up taking his role and carried on as usual.
When word of the sudden change reached corporate, they had questions.
So they took a trip to West Virginia to check in and found out that Dudley Wade wasn't the only thing missing.
Several of the carpet cleaners were missing as well.
Harry tried to explain and said when Dudley left town, he stole a bunch of sweepers and sold them and ran off with the money.
In hope of their return, corporate put out a reward.
They were willing to pay anyone who could return the product and repair the sweepers.
Shockingly, no one ever came forward.
That's when they became suspicious of Harry.
They had the police search his home.
Believe it or not, all of the missing sweepers were in his garage.
Harry tried to change the serial numbers to hide his tracks, but it was an obvious change.
Harry was cornered and couldn't lie his way out of this one.
He doubled down on his lie and still said Dudley stole the sweepers.
And that Harry was the one who tracked him down and found him.
It was an awful lie and the police had no proof that it wasn't true.
So they were forced to let him go.
Not only was Harry released from custody, he sued the vacuum company and got the reward money.
As for what happened to Dudley, we aren't sure.
We know that there is a rumor that Harry killed his manager.
After Harry married Llewela, he still decided to cone widows out of all their money.
He signed up for the American Friendship Society as the alias Cordelius Pearson,
who was a wealthy civil engineer who was seeking a wife.
His crafted ad was getting 10 to 20 repos a day.
Harry was looking for widows with any money he could steal.
He was going to lead these women on and propose marriage from afar.
Then he would have them empty out their bank accounts to make the transition to their new life easier.
Then he would take their money and disappear.
Asta Ecker was a 50-year-old widow from the suburbs of Chicago whose husband was a Silver Smith.
And in the years following, Asta used up all the money he left to take care of their three children.
She also earned a little extra money from running out of room in her house.
Asta's struggles were very practical for someone living during the Great Depression, especially for a single mother.
Asta wanted a partner, but not just someone to support her and her three children.
She wanted someone to love her, and she thought that she saw that in Cordelius.
Harry, on the other hand, saw his next victim.
One of the first letters Asta received called her eye.
Civil engineer, college education, worth about $150,000 or more, has income of $400,000 to $3,000 a month.
Business enterprises prevent me from making social contacts.
I am unable to make the acquaintances of the right kind of woman.
As my properties are located in the middle west, I will settle there when married.
I own a 10-room house completely furnished.
My wife will have her own car and plenty of money.
Cordelius O. Pearson, Box 277, Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Asta asked herself if she could leave her home.
She lived there all her life and her children were born and raised there.
Could she just uproot her entire life and take this chance and move to West Virginia?
She took the chance and wrote to him after a few days.
Asta checked her mail and saw that she had a letter from Cordelius and ran aside.
Opened the letter and started to read it.
My age is 38.
My height is 5 feet 7 inches.
Have clear blue eyes, medium dark hair, weight, 170 pounds.
As a civil engineer, I have an income of $400 a month.
But in addition, I have a much larger income from gas and oil royalties.
The details which I will give you later.
My wife can have anything that money can buy.
But above all, I expect to give her that true love and devotion, which every one of us craves so much.
Death has taken my previous wife from me, which leaves me very lonely.
Along for one to take her place, someone to feel that empty space in my heart.
Women are the sweetest, purest, most unselfish part of the human race.
Any man who has experienced a mother's devotion, a wife's self-sacrificing love, or a sweetheart's affections, knows.
Knows that to be true.
So I'm trying to make this manner to find the one.
The only one who can make home a paradise, a place of rest, a haven of content where loved ones await.
And to who I can look forward with pleasure and anticipation.
Who knows, but you could be the one.
Would you write to me?
Please do.
Any questions you are to ask will be answered to the best of my ability.
Anything you care to tell me will be strictly confidential.
I have a small photo of myself. May I send it?
And yours would be greatly appreciated.
Again, please write, you should never have calls for regret.
Use the included envelope and tell me lots about yourself.
Please do.
Anxiously yours, I'm most sincerely.
The two wrote back and forth for some time.
They would talk about love, marriage, and children.
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Cornelius would actually speak about Ashes Children. Proud of Esther. I am indeed proud of Esther.
He looks like a splendid young chap. The girls too.
They look like fine children and they will have opportunities they deserve and will be able to develop into whatever inclination may be called for.
Cornelius also wrote to Greta, the oldest of Ashes Children.
You do not mind for me to address you as your given name. You see, your mother has told me so many lovely things about you.
That it seemed so distant for me to be calling you by the formal title of Miss Iker.
And then we are not strangers. Are we dear?
Your mother always has so many lovely things to tell me about you.
What you do and how well you're getting along in school.
That really dear. I know just you are a sweet and darling little girl.
And I love you dear, because I believe you are all that your mother tells me you are.
I'd be very glad to have you as my own girl. Tell me would you like to have me as your daddy?
You can then have ever so many lovely things and we could have lots of fun together, couldn't we?
Dear, would you send me a copy of your grades at school and also your schedule?
I'm very anxious to see how well you are doing and by your schedule I would know exactly what you are doing at any time during school hours.
Right me dear, today sometime with love, son, CEO, Pearson.
On June 17th, Esther received one more letter from Cornelius.
I want to see you alone. Do not let the neighbors know I'm coming.
This should have been screaming red flags to Asta.
Oh I know right. When Harry arrived on June the 20th, Asta welcomed him with open arms, telling neighbors that he was an old family friend.
He spent the week with her and her family and on the 25th, Asta reached out to Elizabeth Abonathy,
asking if she could watch her children for her because she was going west for a business trip and would return in a few days.
However, that sadly didn't happen.
On June the 30th, Mrs. Abonathy received a new letter which appeared to be written by Asta.
I have sold the place. I've got the money already, but it is necessary for me to wait for certain details here.
So I'm sending Mr. Pearson for the children. I've given him the instructions on what to do so he will know.
He will pay your bill or you can give him your bill and I will send you back a check for the same.
Hope you are well, Asta Iker.
The next day Cornelius came to pick up the children.
He spent the night in the home and around 11.30 the next day as he was trying to get the children rounded up to leave,
Mrs. Abonathy stopped him because the children weren't dressed and were still in their pajamas, not suitable for a ride trip.
He said it was okay and stopped her from packing their bags and told her that he would be buying them on their clothes when they got there.
Then they drove off.
Before they left town, he stopped by the bank and had Greta go in with a letter from her mother.
The letter asked for the remaining amount to be withdrawn and to close the account.
The teller noticed that the signature didn't match the one that the bank had on file for Asta.
She told Greta to have her mother write another letter with the right signature and come back, but she never did.
Over a month later, on August 13th, Cornelius returned to the home of Asta.
He began moving things from the house to the garage.
He didn't know that he was being watched.
Earlier that day, William Abol, friend and former tenant of Asta and her family drove her to the house to pick up some tools he left behind.
When he got there, he noticed how dusty it was and deserted.
He said he visited neighbors and then learned that Cornelius had gone into the garage.
After waiting at the house, he left and headed to the police station.
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He returned later with police chief Harold Johnson to find that Cornelius was still in the garage.
Abol asked where Asta and the children were.
Cornelius told him that he put them on a train to Denver to visit some family.
That's odd.
I've never heard Asta talk about family in Denver, Abol said.
Cornelius went on to tell them that he bought the house off of Asta and planned to rent it out.
He handed over the papers showing Asta signed over the house to him so he could do what he says is fit.
The officer asked if he could come down to the police station the next day to clear things up.
Something still seemed off so later that evening, William visited with Asta's neighbors and learned that her old friend came on June 22nd and left on the 27th with Asta.
The next morning, William went to the police station to confront him again but he never showed.
They checked the hotel that Cornelius told them he was staying in but no one by that name was registered there.
Chief Johnson obtained a warrant for the house and he broke into the garage.
He found all of Asta's belongings as well as the children's.
Along with all of the letters Cornelius had sent.
What was found in those letters made him put out an arrest warrant for Cornelius Pearson of Clarksburg, W. for kidnapping and murder.
He was then contented with two daughters and her boy and all was well until one day a letter to her came which said she would be wealthy.
The letter was only changed her name then came the stranger to her home and told her of his love and promised her that life would be like heaven up above.
This winsome stranger she believed and with him then did go. To meet a face so horrible no one on earth will know.
Mid hills of West Virginia fair near village Quiet Hill a foul crime was committed there that shocked the lips of hell.
Upon this scene a place was built away from sight and sound With gallows in the upper part and prisons underground.
The prison floor without a door depoit of air and light With deadly gas jets on the wall presents a gruesome sight.
The blood stain on the prison floor the graveyard just outside When taken all together tells just how the victims died.
This is a solemn warning then to all the ladies fair Do not confide in strangers that you meet from everywhere.
A moral lesson is to teach for one can never tell. Let you be lured unto your doom like those at quiet delt.
Courtney do you have any final thoughts on the first part before we sign off?
First and foremost I would love to know what caused him to act out so much even at a young age.
I would just really love to know what I'll cause him to act out in this manner.
Another thing is I find it deeply disturbing that there was what they call widow racketing and the entire thing is it's so disturbing to know that this is how people are praying upon people's emotions.
A majority of time when you lose someone you are literally at your most vulnerable point and these are people who are taking complete advantage of your emotions and playing off of them.
Even back then and even now women didn't have a lot of money. If the husband died a lot of women didn't have a lot of money and you had these men who were praying off of these women and it's deeply disturbing.
I find it deeply disturbing how he was writing the children that is something very disturbing. There's just so much to this and it really makes you want to get in there and just really try to understand what was going through his mind.
And how someone could honestly be this cruel to someone and especially with all the research that we've done on this.
I would also like our listeners to know that this is a man who was actually used at the university at Radford in a psychology study.
This is what they actually used this man to study and learn about psychology and everything. It was actually how we came across a lot of things that we never even knew about.
We never knew his whole life of crime. So it's just I don't know it's a lot. It's definitely a lot to even think of. Mark do you have any final words?
Just how disturbing as hell this case is. I mean from him writing the children that just sends chills down my spine. No one count none of this was red flags to these women that they actually thought they found the person they were going to end up with.
And in all honesty as to thought she was going to end up with him for the rest of her life. She just didn't know how long the rest of her life was going to be.
And in part two it's just going to get crazier from here. I mean we're still doing research on this. We are going to go to the museum in Clarksburg that actually has exhibit of him and they have artifacts from his house and other things that we're going to get into later on in part two.
Let me tell you this case it's just going to get creepier and creepier.
I'll say I like to add one final thing really quick if you don't care. Ladies please be cautious. If you are a single lady and you are dating. Please be cautious if anyone online. This right here was the equivalent of online dating back in the day.
This was the tender the match the Christian mingle the farmers only.
Yeah this was it and I would advise anybody male female anybody please please please please be cautious of online dating.
You do not know these people these people are you know you just you don't know what these people are creating you know everything might sound good but at the same time they could be having they could be doing everything under false pretences.
So please just take a word of advice and please be cautious of who you date who you spill your guts to anything of that nature because somebody could be out there trying to take advantage of you.
you
Next time on Mountain State Mysteries we're going to tell you the rest of Harry Power's story. If you find yourself enjoying Mountain State Mysteries take a second to rate it on your favorite podcasting service. It helps others find good true crime podcasts.
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