In February 1929, Harry Benton Bowman, formerly of Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was formally charged with the murder of Verna Klink, a Harrisburg confectionery store manager. Bowman first stole $900 from Klink, beat her up, and then threw her body in the Susquehanna River. The trial took place in March 1929 and Bowman was convicted and sentenced to life in prison at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. He died there, January 5, 1954.
The story of the murder and conviction is presented here in several newspaper articles, the first of which is from the wire service and the remaining articles are from the Lykens Standard.
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From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 18, 1929.
Body of Woman in Reported Suicide Pact Found in River
Autopsy Held and Salesman Who Told of Death Agreement Is in Jail
By Associated Press.
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, February 17 [1929] — The twenty-three-day search for Miss Verna Klink, 31-year old candy store manager, who has been missing since January 25, ended today when her body was found in the Susquehanna River three miles below this city. The body, caught on a rock about 25 feet from the shore, was discovered by Michael Krayzosiak of Steelton, and an autopsy was held.
Upon the result of this autopsy, District Attorney Robert T. Fox said tonight, will rest the decision as to whether Harry B. Bowman, perfume salesman held in the Dauphin County Jail, will be formally charged with the woman’s murder.
While no official statement regarding the autopsy was issued tonight, it was learned on reliable authority that the woman’s head was severely bruised and that water had been found in the lungs. The nature of the brises, physicians declared, indicated that they had been suffered before the woman drowned.
Search Since January 25 [1929].
An almost continuous search has been in progress since January 25 , the night upon which Miss Klink had disappeared. Yesterday, however, the hunt was officially terminated until the ice broke up to permit a more intensive search.
Bowman was arrested January 28 in connection with the case. After eighteen hours of grilling, he is alleged to have confessed to police that he robber her of $900.
His story of the affair, however, involved a suicide pact entered into by Miss Klink and himself. He said they both jumped into the river, but he pulled himself out while she went to her death.
The explanation is doubted by the police, who are of the opinion that Bowman, who is 39 and married, killed her before casting her body into the Susquehanna at a point near the main business district of Harrisburg.
An autopsy was underway tonight to determine if the woman was slain or if she died by drowning. The condition of the body was good, with only a few cuts and bruises upon it. It still was clad in the raincoat the [victim] wore when she disappeared.
Woman Also Held.
With Bowman in jail is Miss Ethel Miller, his alleged sweetheart, on whom he is suspected of showering gifts bought with the money Miss Klink’s mother had given her daughter to purchase the store of which she was manager. She is charged, among other things, with carrying a concealed revolver.
The day after his arrest, Bowman broke under grilling, and said: “You’ll find her body in the river. I got wet, too.”
According to police, Bowman met police on the night of January 25. He had told her, they say, that he would provide the extra amount of money needed by her to buy the store. She had $900 when she left the store in company with him, the last time she was seen alive.
Couple Had $730.
When Bowman was arrested he had $450 in his possession. This, police say, was a part of the money he took from the woman. Miss Miller, who was arrested at the same time, had $300 sewed in the lining of her coat.
Police dispute his story of a suicide pact. Their theory is that Bowman, who declared that he an Miss Klink jumped in the river because he could not supply the money needed to buy the store, deliberately killed her and attempted to conceal the deed by disposing of the body in the river.
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From the Lykens Standard, March 8, 1929:
HARRY BOWMAN TO BE ON TRIAL MARCH 25
The case of Harry B. Bowman, formerly of Halifax, now being detained in Dauphin County Jail on charges of murdering Miss Verna Klink, confectionery store manager of Harrisburg, whose dead body was found in the Susquehanna River several weeks ago, will go before the grand jury in Dauphin County Court on March 22 and trial is expected to start Monday March 25.
District Attorney Fox predicts 200 will be listed for Quarter Sessions Court this month, beginning on Monday, March 18th.
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From the Lykens Standard, February 22, 1929:
HARRY B. BOWMAN TO FACE MURDER TRIAL
Alderman Hallman at a hearing on Wednesday morning in Harrisburg, held Harry B. Bowman for the March term of court without bail on a charge of murdering Miss Verna Klink, of Mechanicsburg, whose body was found in the river Sunday following a twenty-three day search.
At an inquest held concurrently with the hearing, a coroner’s jury found that Miss Klink “came to her death in Susquehanna River by drowning following blows inflicted on her face and head by one Harry B. Bowman, alias Hon,” formerly of Halifax.
Dr. R. L. Perkins, who with Dr. M. H. Sherman made the autopsy of the body of Miss Klink, said at the inquest that Miss Klink received violent blows in the face before drowning.
Miss Klink’s nose was broken and she suffered several contusions and abrasions and wight lacerations of the face and head, the autopsy shower.
“Heavy blows had been struck to break the nose, to shatter the bone,” Dr. Perkins said.
Bowman was little affected by the physician’s testimony. His face grew paler, but his countenance remained expressionless as he fixed his eyes on the witnesses. He smiled broadly after he had been returned to the jail.
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From the Lykens Standard, April 12, 1929:
BOWMAN TO BE GIVEN LIFE TERM THIS WEEK
Harry B. Bowman, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Dauphin County Court, Monday, by President Judge Hargest, to be served in the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Sheriff Charles E. Newbaker expects to send Bowman to the penitentiary late this week.
W. W. Caldwell, warden at the Dauphin County Jail, and a deputy sheriff will take Bowman, who requested that Mr. Cardwell accompany him.
Bowman, who was convicted on March 28 [1929] of having murdered Miss Verna Klink, confectionery store manager, was formally sentenced by Judge Hargest yesterday morning. The jury recommended life imprisonment.
In passing sentence Judge Hargest said:
“The jury having convicted you of first degree murder, and fixed your punishment as life imprisonment, there is nothing for us to do but pronounce upon you that penalty.
“In our opinion you are a very fortunate man.
“You are committed to undergo imprisonment for the term of your natural life in solitary and confinement and at hard labor in the Eastern Penitentiary.”
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From the Lykens Standard, March 29, 1929:
VERDICT OF FIRST DEGREE IN BOWMAN CASE; LIFE SENTENCE
Jury Deliberated Eighty Minutes; Eight From Upper Dauphin County
Guilty in the first degree, recommending life imprisonment, was the verdict returned by the jury who decided the fate of Harry B. Bowman, perfume salesman of Harrisburg, accused of the murder of Miss Verna Klink, of Mechanicsburg, who managed a confectionary store in Harrisburg.
The case was given to the jury, eight of which were Upper Dauphin County men, at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon, it requiring but one hour and twenty minutes for the twelve to unanimously agree.
Bowman, who is a former of Halifax, where his widowed mother now resides, was up until the time of his arrest, a perfume salesman in Harrisburg. So far as could be learned during the trial, Bowman was the last one to have seen Miss Klink alive on January 25th, the night of her disappearance. Her body was recovered from the Susquehanna River near Steelton, after a search had been conducted, extending over a period of three weeks.
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From the Lykens Standard, April 19, 1929:
ETHEL MILLER IS PAROLED; WILL GO HOME TO MOTHER
The woman, whose testimony made Harry B. Bowman, a lifer at the Eastern Penitentiary for the murder of Verna Klink, is under under suspended sentence for one year.
In court, garbed in the same hat and fur-collared coat she has worn throughout the court proceedings, who heard District Attorney Robert T. Fox describe her as a star witness for the Commonwealth.
“Without her testimony it would have been much more difficult to convict Bowman,” the prosecutor told President Judge William M. Hargest, who presided at the Bowman trial, and Judge Frank B. Wickersham.
Mrs. Miller pleaded guilty on one of the two serious charged, and Fox said the Commonwealth was unwilling to prosecute the other. To the third charge, that of carrying concealed weapons, she waived a jury trial and permitted the Court to decide whether she was guilty.
On the latter charge President Judge Hargest pronounces her “technically guilty,” but included that in his suspended sentence.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
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