Allen County Family Histories
Charles King - Murder of His Family
The Van Wert Daily Bulletin
Oct 24, 1929
Four Children Killed by Gas
Five Members of One Family Victims of Fumes
Hamilton. Oct. 24. (INS)- Their lives claimed by gas, which, coroner Edward C. Cook says had been turned on by their father in a murder attempt, four little children are dead here today and their mother and another child are fighting for their lives in a hospital, where, deoctors said, they will probably die.
Charles King, Sr. aged 36, a barber, the father and husband, is being sought by police and the coroner said he would be charged with murder when captured.
Authorities at Coldwater, Mercer county, whre the family recently resided, have been notified as it is believed King may have fled to friends there for shelter from the far-reaching arm of the law.
The fo[u]r dead are Keith, aged 5; Paul, aged 10; Leon, aged 12; and Robert aged 14. Mrs. Sarah King, the mother, and a fifthe child, Charles, Jr., aged 6, are seriously ill in the hospital and will probably succumb.
The tragedy occurred in the family's rented five-room modest frame dwelling here. The bodies of the two victims were found when a neighbor, Edward Osborne, detected the odor of gas and broke into the house.
He found the mother and Charles, Jr., laying of the floor in a downstairs room. The bodies of the four children were found in their beds upstairs.
Police were immediately summoned and they found that the top of a gas pipe had been taken off, allowing the fumes to tilter through the entire dwelling. Coroner Cook declared that the cap on the pipe could not have fallen off or been knocked off accidentally.
Authorities strenghtened their supposition of murder when an unsigned note, which was said to be in the handwriting of the husband and father, was found. It read: "to the law: I did this because I had to. I was poor but happy. Some want to part us. I have insurance to pay expenses. Don't lok for me. I leave you with Ethel and the boys."
Ethel was the middle name of his wife. The insurance which he alluded to, were small policies he had taken out last month.
The Van Wert Daily Bulletin
Oct 24, 1929
Hamilton, Oct. 24. (INS)-While a pond here is being dragged for the body of Chalres King, aged 36, a barber, who, police said, turned on the gas in his home causing the lives of four of his children to be snuffed out. Mrs. Sarah Ethel King, the wife and mother, died to-day from effects of inhaling the Ethel fumes bringing the "murder" toll to five.
Police believe the man committed suicide after taking the cap from a gas pipe in his home.
The Times Recorder
(Zanesville, Ohio)
Oct 25, 1929
Will Drag Streams for Body of Murderer of His Wife and Children
Hamilton, O., Oct. 24-Prparations were made by police tonight to drag nearby streams, the Miami and Erie Canal and a pond for the body of Charles King Sr., 36 barber, whose wife and four children were asphyxiated at their home here yesterday.
Police said they were not positive that King had ended his life but they had received a report he had drowned himself and would drag the places in an effort to verify the rumor. All other attempts to locate King have been futile.
Neighbors forced an entrance into the King home yesterday, after smelling gas, and found the bodies of Robert, 14, Leon, 12 and Keith, 5.
Paul, 10 died at a hospital last night and Mrs. King succumbed this morning. Charles, Jr. the only other child, is in a critical condition. Coroner Edward C. cook said death was caused by inhaling gas fumes and that a heavy gas cap had been removed from a pipe, allowing fumes to filter through the house.
Police also announced that William jamieson of Fort Recovery, Ind. brother of Mrs. King came here today and informed them King was alleged to have been involved in check forgeries. Police learned that King had received a letter from the Peoples Banking company, Coldwater, O., demanding payment of a $270 note dated Sept. 1, 1928. the letter said there was a question about the signature of King's mother and asked payment before legal proceeding were started.
The Van Wert Daily Bulletin
Dec. 5, 1930
Hamilton, O., Dec. 5 (INS)-Convicted of the first-degree murder of his son, Robert, aged 14, Charles King, 39-year-old Hamilton barber, to-day awaited a sentence of death in the electric chair.
During his trial, however, King denied that the knew his wife and children had been aspyxiated. He contended that he was at the home of his mother at Lima the night of their deaths.
The Lima News
April 3, 1931
Death Stay Granted King
Execution of Barber is set for April 30
Attoneys Win Petition for Hearing Before Oho Supreme Cout
Two Motions are Files
Former Lima Man Faces Chair for Murder of Family in Hamilton
Charles King, son of Mrs. Rose A. King. of 435 E. McKibben-st, sentenced to die in the electric chair at Ohio penitentiary next Tuesday night was granted a stay of execution until april 30, by the state supreme court late Thursday afternoon.
Attorneys for King filed a motion for the stay in order to file a petition in error. The high court granted the petition and set April 17 as the date for hearing.
King was convicted of a muder charge growing out of the death of his son, who, together with King's wife and three other children died when King entered the home in Hamilton while the family was asleep and removed a cap from a gas jet. ONly on member of the family, a son, escaped asphixiatin.
Following the tragedy, King left Hamilton and came to Lima early the follwoing day but, after a brief visit with friends, left the city.
A nation-wide search for hm was started and several months late he was apprehended, while working in a barber shop in a village near Painesville.
The Lima News
Aprl 23, 1931
Former Lima Man to Die in Chair April 30
Charles King, former Lima barber, Thursday faced certain death in the electric chair April 30 for the murder of his wife and four children unless Gov. George White intervenes.
By overruling hs motion for leave to file a petition in error, the Ohio supreme court late Wednesday upheld the verdict of Butler-co courts which found him guilty and sentenced him to death.
King actually was convicted only of the murder of his son, Robert, altho his wife and three other children also were found to have died from asphyxiation. It was charged that King turned on the gas, causing their death.
King, missing when the bodies were found, and was not located until a year later.
Before the supreme court, attorneys for King argued that his wife was a drug addict and she might have turned on the gas.
The Lima News
Aprl 25, 1931
White Fails to Commute King Death Sentence
Former Lima Man Must Die For Slaying Son at Hamilton
Charles King, Hamilton barber, formerly of Lima, Saturday had exhausted his last weapn to escape the electric chair next Thursday.
After the supree court had rejected his appeal from the death sentence, Gov. George White Friday refused to commute his sentence to life imprisonment. Unless the governor changes his mind before the execution, King has no other recourse.
King was sentenced to death for the slaying almost two years ago of his son. Altho he was treied and convicted only on that one charge, he was accused of slaying his wife and three other children at the sae time. Their bodies were found at the King home, with gas jets in the house turned on. They had been asphyxiated.
Attorney Paul A. Budin of Hamilton, King's attorney, said no motive was established and contended Mrs. King might have turned the gas on herself to fulfill threats she was alleged to have made on her own life and those of her children.
Prosecuting Attorney Zelmer G. Morganthaler, of Butler-co stressed a not left in the house by King saying he could not "stand it any longer."
Budin said King's confession was made to escape a "third degree." and that he received an unfair trail due to public sentiment.
The Lima News
Aprl 29, 1931
Boyhood Chum Hopes to Save Charles King
Pleas for Commutation of Death Sentence Filed with Governor
TRIAL ERRORS CHARGED
Celina Attorney tells of Suiced Threats Made by Mrs. King
Columbus, April 29-A boyhood friend today came to the assistance of Charles King, Hamilton barber, who is scheduled to die in the electric chair at Ohio Penitentiary tomorrow night for the murder of his son, almost two years ago.
Using all the legal ability at his command, Burl A. Myers, Celina, Oho, attorney, who was born not more than two miles from Coldwater in Mercer-co where King was reared, appealed to Governor George White for commutation of the death sentence to life imprionment.
Myers declared that the death of King's wife and four children from aspyxiation might have been the fault of Mrs. King. She had aften threatened to commit suicide and to tatke the lived of her children, he asserted.
ERRORS CHARGED
Myers also charged that the Butler-co trial in which King was found guilty of the murder of one son, Robert, was not properly conducted and that testimony about alleged threats of suicide by Mrs. Kin was not allowed.
King's fate, it appeared evident, rest upon the result of the eleventh-hour effort of his boyhood friend. Other appeals to the governor, made last week by Hamilton attorneys, were rejected.
Myer's assistance was offered voluntarily, it was reported, after other attorneys failed to obtain commutation or frther consideration o fthe case. Kig was charged with turning on the gas that caused the death of his son, but was never tried for the death of others in the family. He disappeared immediately after the bodies were discovered and was not found for a year.
The Lima News
Thursday, April 30, 1931
Fate Rests with Governor
Last Plea to Commute Death Penalty Put Before White; Execution set for Thursday
156 Residents of Coldwater in Petition Ask Mercer for Barber
New Evedence Sited
"I am innocent." Statement of prisoner Awaiting End in Electric Chair.
Columbus, O., April 30 (AP)-Charles King, 39, Hamilton barber, must die in the electric chair tonight for the slaying two years ago of his wife and four children, Governor White decided late today.
The chief executive refused to intercede after hearing arguments of Attorney Burl Myers, of Celina, a friend of the famiy, who sought a reprieve of 60 days in which to make further investigation of the deaths of the five members of the family in a gas-filled house at hamilton.
The fate of Charles King, 39-year-old Hamilton barber and former Lima resident, doomed to die Thursday night in the electric chair in Columbus for the slaying of his wife and four children nearly two year ago, was placed in the hands of Governor George White Thursday morning in an eleventh hour plea to save the convicted killer.
The case was placed before the governor for a second time today after his secetary had heard the plae of Burl A. Myers, Celina attorney and life-long friend of Kin, who asked commutation of the sentence to life imprisonment.
PETITION TO GOVERNOR
Altho he declined to intervene last week after the state supreme court affirmed King's convictin, the governor consented to hear Myers' claim that new evvidence ashowed that Mrs. King might have killed the children and committed suicide.
A petition signed by 158 residents of coldwater, O., King's former home, also was presented to the governor. It said that King was "always kind to his fmly and a good provider" who must have been mentally unbalanced, if he committed the crime. The governor's final decision was expected shortly after noon.
Meanwhile, King, in death row at Ohio penitentiary, reiterated a statement made at his trial, "I am innocent."
Mrs. King and four children were found aspyxiated in their home at Hamilton, October 24, 1929. The state charged that King opened gas jets in the house but he insisted he had come to Lima, Ohio, the night of the tragedy.
Captured in Fairport Harbor, O., in October, 1930. King admited knowlede of the death of his famiy but said he had remained in hding only because he became frightened when he learned he had been charged with the slayings. His attorneys questioned the authenticity of an alleged confession which the state said King left in the gas-filled home.
King was tried only for the killing of his son, Robert, 9.