The legend of Bluebeard has as many retellings as it does copycats, though few of the copycats are pirates. In fact, quite a few of them targeted their victims in the same way – through lonely hearts advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Harry Powers was no different.
Harry Powers was born Herman Drenth in 1893 in Beerta, the Netherlands. In 1910, he immigrated to the United States with his father, Hiram, and settled in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Drenth wanted to Americanize himself as much as possible. While his parents remained fluent in Dutch, he gave up the language and spoke only English. When WWI broke out, Drenth left his home and served overseas for 20 months, determined to prove his patriotism to his adopted home country.
At the end of the war, Drenth changed his name to Harry Powers. He gained employment as an Oklahoma oil stock salesman, and used various aliases, such as A. R. Weaver and Cornelius O. Pierson.
In 1926, he chose to settle in West Virginia. There, he met Luella Strother, the owner of a farm and manager of a grocery store in Quiet Dell, West Virginia. Luella was financially comfortable, and was ready to settle down. She wanted romance and companionship, which she found in Harry Powers.
The two married in 1927. 34-year-old Powers continued to work as a traveling salesman, while Luella managed the grocery store and the farm.
Despite being married to an affluent woman, Powers wasn’t satisfied. Soon, he began posting lonely hearts ads, seeking other women of an affluent nature as companions. Women responded in droves. According to postal records, Powers was receiving anywhere from 10 to 20 responses to his ads per day.
Seeing as his letters were such a grand success, and after years of preparation, Powers began to put his plan into action.
He built a garage with a basement, separate from his marital home in Quiet Dell. He filled the basement with concrete, and ensured that it was locked at all times. Luella believed that her husband merely wanted a space of his own for tinkering. She never imagined that it would later be used for nefarious purposes.
Using the alias Cornelius Orvin Pierson, Powers, posing as a civil engineer, began corresponding through the American Friendship Society of Detroit. The Society acted as a match-making organization. They specialized in matching individuals of similar financial means together for companionship, with the goal of marriage in mind.
Through the Society, Powers took up a correspondence with a wealthy woman by the name of Asta Eicher of Park Ridge, Illinois. They made plans to meet, and did so on June 23, 1931. Powers introduced himself to Asta, and her three children: 14-year-old Greta, 12-year-old Harry, and 9-year-old Annabel.
Around that time, Asta had asked her long-time boarder, William O’Boyle, to find other living arrangements. She was to be a married woman, she told him, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to have another man living in her marital home.
Two days after his arrival, Powers convinced Asta to go on a trip with him. Asta agreed, and left her children in the care of her dear friend, and the family nurse, Elizabeth Abernathy.
Five days later, Elizabeth received a letter from “Cornelius Pierson” stating that he was coming to pick up the children, and bring them to their mother. Elizabeth was confused, but agreed to let him stay the night when he arrived on July 1st.
Powers tried to send one of the children to the bank to withdraw money from Asta’s account. However, the bank was quite familiar with the Eicher family, and refused the withdrawal, as they could tell that the signature on the blank cheque was a forgery.
The child returned home without the money, and Powers quickly ushered them away from their home, and left. He told Elizabeth, and curious neighbours, that he was taking the Eicher family with him on a trip to Europe.
No one knew that instead, he was keeping them captive in the basement of his garage in Quiet Dell, West Virginia.
Three weeks later, Powers moved onto his next mark.
Using the same alias, Powers had corresponded quite passionately with a woman by the name of Dorothy Pressler Lemke. He promised her marriage and a lavish, carefree life.
He met Dorothy at her sister’s home in Northboro, Massachusetts, where he charmed not only her, but her sister and brother-in-law as well.
Powers persuaded Dorothy to withdraw $4,000 from her bank accounts, which she did willingly, believing she was doing a favour for her soon-to-be husband. He then travelled with her to Iowa, where he said they were to be wed.
What Dorothy failed to notice was that he wasn’t sending her trunks ahead to Iowa. Instead, he was sending them to Fairmont, West Virginia.
Using his legal name, Powers collected the trunks a few days later.
The disappearances did not go unnoticed. Several of Asta’s friends and neighbours were concerned that they hadn’t heard from her, or her children, since they’d all left with the mysterious Mr. Pierson.
In August, William O’Boyle grew more and more concerned. He hadn’t heard from Asta, nor had he seen her or her children in over a month. However, he did notice that Cornelius O. Pierson had returned. And that he was emptying Asta’s home of all of its contents.
William called the police, who asked Powers just who he was, and what he thought he was doing. He told them that he was a friend of the family, from Fairmont, West Virginia, of the Fairmont Hotel. He stated that Asta had asked him to settle her affairs in Illinois, as she and her children had decided to uproot to Colorado.
The Park Ridge police were unconvinced, and decided to investigate further. While they discovered that no man by the name of Cornelius O. Pierson resided in Fairmont, West Virginia, they were undeterred by the setback. They kept searching.
On August 26th, 1931, law enforcement in Park Ridge, Illinois contacted Clarence Duckworth, the police chief of Clarksburg, West Virginia. They were concerned about the Eicher family’s whereabouts. They wondered if Chief Duckworth wouldn’t mind looking into a local resident, Cornelius O. Pierson, as he was the last person known to have been with them.
Chief Duckworth looked into the matter, and had terrible news. There was no one living in Clarksburg by that name. But there were young lives at stake.
Chief Duckworth gave a description of the man, and his name, to City Detective Carl Southern to investigate.
Following his gut instinct, Detective Southern made a trip to the post office, and asked after the man in question. He learned that a man using that name rented a box with them for his correspondence. He had even given them his home address – 111 Quincy Street, Quiet Dell, West Virginia.
With this information, Detective Southern learned that the address belonged to a man by the name of Harry Powers. He also learned that he lived there with his wife, Luella. The man also closely resembled the description given to them by the Park Ridge officials.
Harry Powers was taken into custody as a person of interest to Illinois law enforcement in the disappearance of Asta Eicher, and her three children.
The arrest of Harry Powers was reported in the Clarksburg Telegram, which drew the attention of Louise Watson. She called the Harrison County Sheriff, Wilford B. Grimm, and told him he needed to look in Powers’ garage. She said that the garage adjoined her mother’s property, which had always drawn her mother’s curiosity. She said that if anything was worth finding, it would be in the garage.
On August 28th, 1931, Sheriff Grimm was granted a search warrant for the Powers home, and the garage.
Inside, they found four rooms made up of tile and concrete in the basement of the garage. In one of the rooms, law enforcement found signs of violence, including a bloody footprint, bloody clothing, and strands of human hair. They also found a partially burned bankbook, and a pile of ashes outside of the garage.
Through the search, and interrogation at the police station. Harry Powers continued to maintain his silence.
As the search of the garage continued, citizens began to gather and gawk at the goings on. Among them was a 15-year-old who immediately asked to speak to one of the detectives. He told the detective that he had recently been hired by Powers to assist him in digging a ditch on the property.
After being shown where the ditch was located, law enforcement began digging. They didn’t have to dig far before they began uncovering the bodies of Asta, Greta, Harry, and Annabel Eicher, and Dorothy Lemke.
The autopsy results indicated that all five of them met with extremely horrifying, and violent ends.
Law enforcement also found an abundance of love letters in the trunk of Powers’ car. He had been corresponding with a number of women, promising them marriage, and asking them for money. It was clear that had he not been caught, he would have continued to lure women in with his charms, and murder them for their wealth.
As more and more details of the gruesome discoveries came to light, news media in the area latched onto the story. While Harry Powers wasn’t the first lonely hearts killer to be reported on, he was the first in the quiet town of Quiet Dell, West Virginia.
Soon, Harry Powers had another alias – The Bluebeard of Quiet Dell.
Harry Powers was ruthlessly interrogated. Throughout the entire process, he maintained his innocence. Until he couldn’t.
After a bout of “vigorous” questioning, he signed a statement confessing to the murders. He stated that he kept the women and children locked up in a soundproof room in the basement of his garage. For days, he forced them to sign cheques, that he would later bring to the bank and make withdrawals.
When the murders were discovered, Asta and Dorothy’s bank accounts had been emptied.
Powers was later seen with bruises and black eyes. It was alleged that he had fallen down a staircase during questioning.
On September 20th, 1931, it was determined that Powers would need to be moved to West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville for his safety. A lynch mob had formed, wanting to take Powers from his jail cell. The crowd had to be dispersed with the use of fire hoses and tear gas.
The murder trial of Harry Powers lasted five days, and had to be held in a local opera house due to the massive crowds that were drawn to the spectacle.
Multiple witnesses testified that they had seen Powers in the presence of Asta Eicher and her children, as well as Dorothy Lemke. Some witnesses testified to Powers emptying the Eicher house, while others testified to him picking up Dorothy’s trunks.
Powers testified for himself. However, he made very little sense. He proclaimed his innocence, once again, and accused two men named Cecil Johnson and Charles Rogers.
Harry Powers was not believed.
Harry Powers was convicted of the murders of Dorothy Lemke, Asta Eicher, Greta Eicher, Harry Eicher, and Annabel Eicher.
On December 12th, 1931, he was sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on March 18th, 1932.
Following the arrest, fingerprints indicated that Powers had been incarcerated for burglary in Wisconsin between 1921-1922 under his birth name. He was also suspected to be involved in the disappearance of Dudley C. Wade, as well as the murder of a Jane Doe in Morris, Illinois. No charges were brought against him in these instances.
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Sources:
Harry Powers – Christine M. Kreiser – The West Virginia Encyclopedia
The Bluebeard of Quiet Dell – author unknown – Charleston Gazette
Southern Mysteries podcast – Episode 121 – Harry Powers: The Bluebeard of Quiet Dell
Harry Powers Wikipedia page